M  I  §    §.  "-JI  I  27 


I:FI 


^•IIBRARY^      Avtf- 

t*j 


OF-CALIFO% 


t    i 

I  gv 

C  10- 

=3  -r-  »£ 


V 


iHTrO-   s 

£ :  *— •%•,/    §         £ 


{  Pfg 

,— . 

^Jl  I  e. 


~t    \   J> 

«— <    y  o 

^**T      ?3 


v. ^  > 

-   i><^  i 

*s='         V 


IN  > 

S  — T\  0  1 1 


3Franr*   Swtlt 


Soissons    Cathedral.     The    Transept's    Southern    Arm 
(c.  1180) 


!|0tu 


Built 


A  g>tuhtj  in 

(Bljtrfmttlf  (Stttturif  a 


ELIZABETH  BOYLE  O'REILLY 

Honorary  Member  of  the  Soci#e  Fronfaise  d' Archiologie 
Author  of  "Heroic  Spain"  Etc. 


Illustrated  With  Drawings  By 
A.  PAUL  DE  LESLIE 


HARPER  fef  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


How  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 


Copyright,   1921,   by  Harper  &    Brothers 
Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


l*rt>an  Planning 
Library 


CHAP. 

INTRODUCTION 


c»? 


I.  WHAT  IS  GOTHIC   ARCHITECTURE?    ..........      16 

Gothic  architecture  the  logical  fulfillment  of  Romanesque  —  Origin  of 
Romanesque  architecture  —  Romanesque  basilicas  modified  by  the 
liturgy  —  Horrors  of  the  IX  and  X  centuries  in  France—  Rebirth  of 
the  builders'  energy  after  the  year  1000  —  Cluny,  the  civilizing  force 
of  the  X  and  XI  centuries  —  Various  regional  Romanesque  schools  of 
France  —  Normandy,  Burgundy,  Auvergne,  Poitou,  Languedoc, 
Provence,  and  the  Franco-Picard  school  —  Birth  of  Gothic  art  —  An 
undecided  question  where  the  first  diagonal-crossing  ribs  were  used 

—  Germany's  and  Italy's  claims  —  Claim  of  England  —  The  Ile-de- 
France  Picard  region,  the  classic  land  of  Gothic  —  Gothic  architecture 
not  a  layman's  revolt  against  monkish  Romanesque  —  The  architects 
of  the  Gothic  cathedrals  —  No  heretical  tendencies  in  Gothic  sculpture 

—  Origin  of  the  term  Gothic  —  XVII-  and  XVIII-century  scorn  for 
Gothic  architecture  —  Modern  French  school  of  mediaeval  archaeology. 

II.  ABBOT   SUGER   AND    ST.    DENIS-EN-FRANCE      ......      43 

Evolution  from  Romanesque  to  Gothic  —  St.  Denis'  abbatial,  the  first 
important  Gothic  monument  —  Some  early-Gothic  churches  in  the 
Ile-de-France  —  Morienval,  the  first  Gothic-vaulted  ambulatory 
extant  (c.  1122)—  Church  of  St.  Etienne,  at  Beauvais  (c.  1120)— 
St.  Germer-en-Flay  built  from  1150  to  1175,  yet  less  advanced  than 
St.  Denis  —  Poissy's  church  of  St.  Louis  (c.  1135)  —  How  Abbot  Suger 
built  his  abbey  church  at  St.  Denis  —  St.  Denis'  school  of  glass- 
making,  the  leader  for  fifty  years  —  Dedication  of  St.  Denis  on  June 
11,  1144,  consecrated  the  national  art  —  Who  Suger  was  and  how 
St.  Bernard  converted  him  —  W'hat  is  left  of  the  abbey  church  which 
Suger  built  —  Reconstruction  of  St.  Denis  by  St.  Louis,  1231  to  1280 

—  Pierre  de  Montereau,  its  architect  —  Tombs  in  St.  Denis'  abbatial 

—  Deviation  of  the  axis  not  symbolic  —  Some  happenings  in  St.  Denis 
during  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries  —  Charles  Peguy's  verses,  linking 
St.  Denis,  St.  Genevieve,  and  Jeanne  d'Arc. 

III.  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS     ...........      74 

Cathedral  of  Noyon,  first  built  of  Gothic  cathedrals  (c.  1150)  —  Noyon's 
communal  charter,  the  first  of  known  date,  1109  —  Cathedral's  nave, 
a  vessel  of  most  perfect  proportion  —  Exceptional  among  French 
cathedrals,  its  transept's  rounded  ends  —  Noyon  has  retained  its  an- 
nexes —  Its  chapter  house,  built  about  1240  —  Noyon  city  destroyed, 
1918  —  Cathedral  still  stands. 

Cathedral  of  Senlis,  second  of  the  Gothic  cathedrals,  begun  about  1153  — 
Sculpture  at  Senlis'  west  portal  (c.  1180)  marks  a  date  in  imagery  — 


CONTENTS 

CHAP. 

Cathedral  tower,  the  "pride  of  the  Valois  land" — Transept's  fagades 
of  the  best  Flamboyant  Gothic  art — What  the  World  War  did  to 
Senlis. 

Cathedral  of  Sens,  begun  about  1160 — Sens'  ancient  see,  governed  by 
notable  men  in  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries — How  they  found  out 
who  was  the  architect  of  the  cathedral — St.  Thomas  Becket  in  Sens, 
1164,  and  again  from  1166  to  1170 — St.  Louis  married  in  Sens 
Cathedral,  1234 — Glory  of  Sens'  stained  glass. 

Cathedral  of  Laon,  begun  about  1160 — Fallacy  of  the  "town-hall" 
theory — Cathedral  of  springtime  foliage — Oxen  on  Laon's  towers — 
Origin  of  the  square  east  end  of  Laon  Cathedral — Laon's  communal 
struggle — Famous  XH-century  school  of  Anselm  de  Laon — Laon 
city  shelled  by  the  French,  but  its  cathedral  unhurt. 

Cathedral  of  Soissons  almost  a  ruin — Desolation  of  Soissons  in  World 
War — Soissons'  southern  arm  of  transept  ends  in  a  hemicycle  (c.  1180) 
— Is  the  most  exquisite  thing  in  France — The  crusading  bishop- 
builder,  Nivelon  de  Cherisy. 

Some  important  Primary  Gothic  churches:  Abbatial  of  St.  Remi  at 
Rheims  (c.  1170) — Its  superb  Xll-century  glass  wrecked  in  the 
World  War — Abbatial  of  Notre  Dame  at  Chalons-sur-Marne  (c.  1160) 
— Pioneer  in  fenestration — First  to  use  pillars  between  chapels  and 
ambulatory — Church  of  St.  Quiriace  at  Provins  (c.  1160) — Provins, 
residence  of  the  counts  of  Champagne — Its  international  fairs  fre- 
quented by  mediaeval  Europe — Collegiate  of  St.  Yved,  at  Braine 
(c.  1200),  between  Primary  Gothic  and  the  Era  of  Great  Cathedrals 
— Individual  plan  of  its  choir-chapels — St.  Leu  d'Esserent,  on  the 
Oise,  the  best  type  of  the  small  churches  in  the  classic  Ile-de-France 
— Its  forechurch  shows  transition  work  (c.  1150) — Primary  Gothic 
work  to  be  found  at  Etampes,  Vendome,  Fecamp,  Rouen,  Lisieux, 
Angers,  Mantes,  Paris. 

IV.      NOTRE  DAME  OF  PARIS  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES  OF  THE 

CAPITAL 126 

Notre  Dame,  begun  in  1163 — Its  exterior  unsurpassed,  the  west  fagade  a 
classic — Scholastic  training  of  its  bishop-builders — Summa  of  the 
supreme  scholastic,  Aquinas,  like  a  Gothic  cathedral — Thirty 
thousand  students  then  in  Paris  University — Bishop  Maurice  de 
Sully  (1160-96)  built  Notre  Dame— Bishop  Eudes  de  Sully  made 
the  portals  of  the  west  facade — Bishop  Pierre  de  Nemours  died  a 
crusader,  before  Damietta,  1219 — Bishop  Guillaume  d'Auvergne 
finished  the  north  tower  (1228-49) — All  the  prelates  building  Paris 
Cathedral  good  and  able  men — Their  sincerity  lives  in  its  stones — 
First  architect  unknown — Jean  and  Pierre  de  Chelles  made  the 
transept  and  apse  chapels — Sculpture  of  Notre  Dame  masterly — 
Sainte-Chapelle  built  by  St.  Louis,  1246  to  1248— St.  Julien-le- 
Pauvre  a  contemporary  of  Notre  Dame's  rhoir  (c.  1180) — Same 
noble  sculptured  capitals — Three  Benedictine  abbey  churches  of 
Paris  show  early  trials  of  Gothic  vaulting — St.  Germain-des-Pres, 
St.  Martin-des-Champs,  St.  Pierre-de-Montmartre — St.  Louis  and 
his  friend,  Joinville — Louis  IX  illuminated  his  kingdom  with  fair 
churches — On  his  first  crusade  spent  five  years  in  the  East,  1248  to 
vi 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

1259 — From  1254  to  1270  worked  for  his  people — Death  of  St.  Louis 
on  the  crusade  of  1270 — His  characteristics:  justice,  pity,  other- 
worldliness — Inimitable  charm  of  Joinville's  Histoire  de  St.  Louis — 
Describes  his  friendship  with  the  king  in  Palestine — Joinville's  old 
age  and  death  in  1319. 

Mantes'  collegiate  of  Notre  Dame  is  Primary  Gothic — A  contemporary 
of  Paris  Cathedral — Perhaps  by  the  same  architect — Its  chapel  of 
Navarre  one  of  the  best  works  of  Rayonnant  Gothic. 

Meaux  Cathedral,  a  difficult  architectural  page  to  decipher,  owing  to 
reconstruction — Begun  in  1170,  but  rebuilt  radically  after  1270 — 
Bossuet,  its  greatest  bishop  (1681  to  1704) — Meaux,  the  cathedral  for 
the  Te  Deum  of  victory — Battle  of  the  Marne,  1914,  waged  at  the  city 
gates. 

V.  ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS:  CHARTRES,  RHEIMS, 

AMIENS 169 

Cathedral  of  Chartres — Bishop  Fulbert's  Romanesque  Notre  Dame 
burned  in  1194 — His  vast  crypt,  of  1020,  still  exists — Bishop  Geoffrey 
de  Leves  built  the  tower  of  Chartres,  called  the  most  beautiful  in 
the  world  (1145) — Making  of  the  three  western  portals  (c.  1155) — 
Gothic  cathedral  begun  after  the  fire  of  1194 — Primary  Gothic  west 
facade  escaped  the  fire — Jehan  de  Beauce  crowned  the  northwest 
tower,  1506  to  1513 — Sculpture  of  the  transept  portals  and  porches, 
1220  to  1260— Chartres  excels  all  cathedrals  in  the  wealth  of  its 
stained  glass,  chiefly  of  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries. 

Cathedral  of  Rheims,  begun  by  the  crusader,  Bishop  Alberic  de  Humbert, 
1211 — Its  architects  recorded  in  the  pavement  labyrinth — Its  west 
fagade  the  culmination  of  Gothic  art — Coronation  of  Charles.  VII  in 
1429,  Jeanne  d'Arc  present — Astounding  sculptural  wealth  of  this 
"Cathedral  of  the  Angels" — Martyrdom  of  Rheims  in  the  World 
War. 

Cathedral  of  Amiens,  the  Parthenon  of  Gothic  art — Bishop  Evrard  de 
Fouilloy  began  it,  1220— Designed  by  Robert  de  Lusarches — Its 
sculpture  the  peer  of  Rheims  and  Chartres — Its  portal  of  the  Vierge 
DorSe  (c.  1280). 

VI.  SIX  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS:  BOURGES,  BEATJ- 

VAIS,  TROYES,  TOURS,  LYONS,  LE  MANS       211 

Cathedral  of  Bourges — Only  XIH-century  cathedral  without  a  transept 
— Inner  aisle  has  its  own  triforium  and  clearstory — Chevet  built  by 
St.  Guillaume,  1200  to  1209 — Over  main  portal  is  best  Last  Judg- 
ment (c.  1275) — Bourges  famous  for  its  stained  glass — Jean,  due  de 
Berry,  and  Jacques  Coeur,  the  late-Gothic  art  patrons  of  Bourges 
— Their  gifts  to  the  cathedral — Orleans  Cathedral  destroyed  by 
Calvinists  (note). 

Cathedral  of  Beauvais — A  mighty  fragment:  only  a  choir  and  transept — 
Begun  in  1247,  derived  directly  from  Amiens — Transept  facades 
masterpieces  of  late-Gothic  —  Is  Flamboyant  Gothic  of  English 
origin? — Le  Prince  family  of  glassmakers. 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

Cathedral  of  Troyes — Its  choir  built  by  Bishop  Herv£,  1206  to  1226 — 
Martin  Chambiges  designed  the  Flamboyant  west  facade — Magnifi- 
cent XIII-  and  XlV-century  windows  of  Troyes  Cathedral — St. 
Urbain's  church  begun  by  Pope  Urban  IV  in  1262 — Carried  the 
Gothic  principle  of  equilibrium  to  its  limit — Churches  of  Troyes 
treasure-houses  of  stained  glass  and  sculpture — Cultivated  court 
of  Champagne's  rulers — To  the  Gothic  school  of  Champagne  belongs 
the  Cathedral  of  Chalons-sur-Marne — Chalons  another  center  for 
stained  glass. 

Cathedral  of  Tours — Choir  begun  about  1210 — Has  the  classic  note  of 
the  Touraine  landscape — Cathedral  windows  set  up  between  1260 
and  1270 — Venerable  ecclesiastical  souvenirs  of  Tours — Tours,  the 
center  for  the  Region-of -the- Loire  school  of  sculpture — Michel 
Colombe,  last  of  the  great  Gothic  artists,  worked  here — Environs  of 
the  city  rich  in  Flamboyant  Gothic. 

Cathedral  of  Lyons — Lyons  boasts  an  apostolic  succession  for  its  bishops 
— Early  Christian  martyrs  of  Rome's  chief  city  in  Gaul — St.  Martin 
d'Ainay's  abbatial  dedicated  in  1107 — Cathedral  choir  late  XII  cen- 
tury— With  Vienne  Cathedral  (note)  it  alone  in  France  used  incrusta- 
tions— Nave  of  Lyons  Cathedral  building  through  the  XIII  century — 
Stained  glass  of  Lyons  of  exceptional  quality — All  Christendom  was 
represented  at  the  Ecumenical  Council  held  in  Lyons  Cathedral  in 
1274 — Church  of  Brou  built  by  Marguerite  of  Austria  (note) — 
Moulins  Cathedral  and  Souvigny's  abbatial  and  tombs  (notes). 

Cathedral  of  Le  Mans — XH-century  nave  built  by  notable  prelates — 
Bishop  Hildebert  de  Lavardin  (1097  to  1125)  a  poet  and  scholar — 
Guillaume  de  Passavent  made  the  Angevin  vaults  (c.  1150) — Geoffrey 
the  Handsome,  nicknamed  Plantagenet,  and  his  son,  Henry  II  of 
England,  born  in  Le  Mans — Trinite  church  at  Vendome  (note) — 
Le  Mans'  Gothic  choir  built  from  1218  to  1254  by  Bishop  Geoffrey 
de  Loudon — Le  Mans  ranks  next  to  Chartres  and  Bourges  for  its 
wealth  of  stained  glass — Rayonnant-Flamboyant  transept  of  the 
XIV  and  XV  centuries — The  groups  at  Solesmes  a  final  expression  of 
Gothic  sculpture  (1495  to  1550) — Collegiate  church  at  St.  Quentin,  in 
size  a  cathedral,  Xlll-century  choir — Villard  de  Honnecourt,  prob- 
ably the  architect  of  St.  Quentin. 

VII.    PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 285 

Plantagenet  Gothic  fused  the  cupola  of  Aquitaine  and  the  diagonals  of 
north — Lasted  a  hundred  years,  from  1150  to  1250 — For  clearness 
divided  into  three  periods:  I.  Heavy  diagonals,  II.  Eight  slight 
branches,  III.  Multiple  ribs — English  fan  tracery  a  derivation  of 
Angevin  Gothic. 

Cupola  churches  of  Aquitaine:  St.  Front  at  Perigieux,  begun  after  a  fire, 
1120,  and  finished  by  1180 — Cahors  Cathedral  has  Romanesque 
portal  of  beauty  (note) — Cathedral  of  Angouleme,  begun  1109 — Its 
facade  a  notable  page  of  French  decoration — Rich  facades  dis- 
tinguish Poitou's  Romanesque  school — Fontevrault  abbey  church, 
built  in  the  first  half  of  the  XII  century — Plantagenet  tombs  at 
Fontevrault — Alienor  of  Aquitaine  buried  there  in  1204  beside 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

her  husband,   Henry   II,   and   her   son,   Richard   Cceur-de-Lion — 
Alienor's  descendants  notable  builders  of  churches. 

Cathedral  of  Angers — Its  nave  vaulted  with  First-Period  diagonals,  about 
1150 — Anjou  rulers  a  remarkable  race — Fulk  Nerra,  the  great  builder, 
died  1040 — Choir  of  Angers  Cathedral  extended  after  1274 — In  the 
nave  is  XH-century  glass  of  St.  Denis  derivation — Cathedral's 
Apocalypse  tapestries — Fortress  of  Angers,  built  by  St.  Louis,  1228  to 
1238 — Church  of  Toussaint  had  a  ramified  vault  of  the  Third  Period 
— St.  Jean's  hospital  hall,  endowed  by  Henry  II,  a  gem  of  Plantagenet 
art — Choir  of  St.  Serge,  1220  to  1225,  a  masterpiece  of  lightness. 

Saumur — Another  center  for  the  study  of  Plantagenet  Gothic — Historical 
fete  called  the  Non-Pareitle  took  place  in  its  castle  in  1241 — St.  Pierre's 
church  shows  different  kinds  of  Angevin  vaults — Church  of  St.  Martin 
at  Candes,  a  Plantagenet  masterpiece — St.  Florent-les-Saumur  shows 
one  of  the  first  eight-branch  vaults — Puy-Notre-Dame  and  Asnieres 
beautiful  examples  of  Plantagenet  art  (note) — Plantagenet  vaults  at 
Le  Mans,  Vendome,  Chinon,  and  Tours. 

Cathedral  of  Poitiers,  begun  by  Henry  Plantagenet  and  Alienor  of  Aqui- 
taine,  1160 — In  adopting  the  gracious  Plantagenet  vaulting  it  re- 
mained true  to  Poitou's  Romanesque  traditions — XH-century 
Crucifixion  window  the  most  glorious  in  the  world — Spirit  of  Poitiers' 
bishops,  St.  Hilary  and  Fortunatus,  inspired  it — Church  of  Ste. 
Radegonde  is  Plantagenet  vaulted — St.  Hilaire's  abbatial  has  curious 
octagonal  cupolas — St.  Jean's  baptistry,  the  oldest  building  in  France, 
dating  from  the  IV  century — Clement  V  at  Poitiers  in  1307  carried 
on  the  Templars'  process — Hall  of  the  count's  palace  rebuilt  by  Duke 
Jean  de  Berry — Jeanne  d'Arc  examined  there  in  1429,  found  to  be 
sent  of  God. 

VIII.  GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 329 

Cathedral  of  Clermont-Ferrand,  begun  in  1248 — Gothic  of  the  north, 
translated  with  a  Midi  accent — True  character  of  Auvergne  shown 
in  its  Romanesque  churches — Notre  Dame-du-Port,  the  classic  type  of 
Auvergne's  Romanesque  school — Abbey  church  of  La  Chaise  Dieu, 
begun  by  Clement  VI,  1344 — Contains  incomparable  tapestries 
(note) — First  Crusade  proclaimed  at  Clermont  by  Urban  II,  1095 — 
Riom's  Sainte-Chapelle,  of  the  XIV  century — Madonna  of  the  Bird  a 
masterpiece  of  late-Gothic  imagery — Romanesque  Cathedral  of 
Le  Puy  (XII  century)  one  of  the  most  venerable  shrines  in  France. 

Cathedral  of  Bordeaux,  like  the  city  itself,  is  of  the  north  and  the  south — 
Nave  is  composite  and  difficult  to  read — Clement  V  (d.  1314)  built 
the  Rayonnant  Gothic  choir — In  the  Romanesque  church  of  Ste.  Croix 
appeared  the  first  diagonals  of  the  region — Charlemagne  laid  Roland's 
olifant  on  the  altar  of  St.  Seurin — St.  Bertrand-de-Commignes  Cathe- 
dral built  by  Clement  V — Cathedral  of  Bayonne  (note). 

Cathedral  of  Toulouse  consists  of  two  inharmonious  parts — Unaisled  nave 
with  Angevin  vaults  building  while  Simon  de  Montfort  besieged  city 
— Gothic  choir  begun  in  1275 — Chief  monument  of  Toulouse  is  the 
abbey  church  of  St.  Sernin  (begun  1075) — Languedoc  then  excelled  in 
sculpture:  Moissac's  portal  and  cloister  (note) — Toulouse  a  center 
ix 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

for  brick  architecture — Its  Jacobins'  church  begun  in  1229 — St.  Dom- 
inic's mission  in  Languedoc — Albigensian  Crusade. 

Albi  Cathedral,  the  incarnation  of  the  Midi  wars:  meridional  Gothic — 
Aggressive  Bernard  de  Castanets  began  it  in  1282 — Flamboyant  and 
Renaissance  riches  were  added  to  St.  Cecilia's  cathedral — Frescoes 
of  its  vault  have  never  been  surpassed  (1509  to  1512) — Its  choir 
screen  equally  noted — Auch  Cathedral  has  famous  XVI-century  win- 
dows (note) — Cathedral  of  Rodez  possesses  a  notable  Flamboyant 
tower  (1510  to  1526)  (note) — Carcassonne  Cite  has  been  too  much 
restored — Its  ci-devant  cathedral  of  St.  Nazaire  the  best  of  XlV-cen- 
tury  Gothic — Like  a  reliquary  of  colored  glass — Carcassonne  town 
has  typical  Midi  Gothic  churches. 

Narbonne  Cathedral,  consisting  of  a  vast  Gothic  choir,  begun  in  1272 — 
Its  mechanical  skill  cold,  but  still  Gothic  of  the  grand  style — Lovely 
XlV-century  glass — Sack  of  Beziers,  1209 — Perpignan  Cathedral  and 
Elne's  cloister  (note) — Abbey  church  of  Fontfroide  allied  with  Poblet 
in  Catalonia  (note). 

Montpellier  Cathedral,  formerly  an  abbey  church,  built  by  Urban  V, 
XIV  century — Jaime  el  Conquistador,  mighty  builder  of  churches, 
born  in  Montpellier,  1208 — Mende  Cathedral  and  St.  Victor's  abbatial 
at  Marseilles  built  by  Urban  V  (note) — Maguelonne,  former  cathedral 
of  diocese,  now  the  most  aloof  spot  in  Europe — Aigues-Mortes,  begun 
by  St.  Louis,  completed  by  his  son — Fortress  unspoiled  by  restorations 
— Both  crusades  of  Louis  IX  sailed  thence — St.  Gilles'  abbey  church, 
partly  a  ruin,  interesting  to  archa3ologists;  building  from  1116 — 
Noted  portal  of  St.  Gilles  inspired  Trinity  Church,  Boston — Loyalty 
of  Provence  to  its  Saintes-Maries  traditions — Les  Saintes-Maries 
church  a  pilgrim  shrine  (note) — St.  Martha's  church  at  Tarascon 
(note). 

St.  Trophime  Cathedral  at  Aries — Portal  influenced  by  Gallo-Roman 
sculpture — Its  cloister  the  fairest  Christian  monument  in  the  city — 
Ruins  of  Montmajour  near  Aries — Frederic  Mistral  should  be  one's 
companion  in  Provence — Expresses  the  regional  soul — St.  Maximin 
church  the  best  Gothic  monument  in  Provence — Begun  by  Charles  II 
d'Anjou  in  1295 — Cathedral  of  St.  Sauveur  at  Aix-en-Provence  is 
composite — Its  south  aisle  originally  a  separate  Romanesque  church, 
XII  century — Good  King  Rene  gave  the  triptych  by  a  French 
primitif — Avignon's  great  day  was  the  XIV  century  under  seven 
meridional  popes,  1309  to  1377 — Palace  of  the  Popes  built  from  1335 
to  1358 — Grandest  fortress-palace  in  the  world. 

IX.      THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 410 

Burgundy  excelled  in  monastic  architecture — The  cradle  of  three  great 
cloistral  centers — Luxeuil,  Cluny,  Clteaux — Luxeuil,  founded  by 
St.  Columbanus  (610),  reorganized  the  VII  century — Cluny,  Chris- 
tendom's supremest  monastic  congregation,  founded  910 — St.  Hugues 
of  Cluny  (1049  to  1109)  trained  the  leaders  who  remade  Europe's 
civilization — Peter  the  Venerable,  abbot  from  1120  to  1156,  con- 
tinued building  Cluny's  vast  church — Abelard  died  in  a  Cluny  house, 
1142 — Revolution  destroyed  the  glorious  abbatial  church — Paray- 
le-Monial,  the  favorite  priory  of  Abbot  Odilo  (d.  1049)  of  Cluny, 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

initiator  of  the  Truce  of  God — Its  Romanesque  church  has  fluted 
pilasters  (XII  century) — Autun  Cathedral's  Romanesque  portal  the 
ancestor  of  the  sculptured  doors  of  Gothic  cathedrals — Abbey  church 
at  Saulieu  (note) — Beaune's  collegiate  of  Notre  Dame  has  lovely 
tapestries — Hotel  Dieu  at  Beaune  (1444  to  1457),  founded  by  Nicolas 
Rolin,  contains  Roger  van  der  Weyden's  best  work — Hospital  hall 
at  Tonnerre  (founded  1293)  the  prototype  for  Beaune's  hospice— 
Fontenay,  the  oldest  Romanesque  Cistercian  church  extant — Dedi- 
cated by  Eugene  III  in  1147 — Avallon's  church  of  St.  Lazare  blessed 
by  Paschal  II  in  1107 — Has  a  well-known  Romanesque  entranceway. 

Some  Primary  Gothic  churches  in  Burgundy — Montreal's  collegiate  can 
be  visited  from  Avallon — Built  by  a  returned  crusader  late  in  the 
XII  century — Pontigny's  abbatial  the  oldest  Gothic  in  Burgundy — 
Its  nave  (1160  to  1180),  with  bombe  vaults,  was  begun  as  Romanesque 
— Its  choir  used  structural  features  as  decorations — Three  arch- 
bishops of  Canterbury,  St.  Thomas  Becket,  Stephen  Langton,  and 
St.  Edmund  Rich,  found  refuge  at  Pontigny — Vezelay's  abbatial  of  the 
Madeleine  the  stateliest  church  in  Burgundy— Its  Romanesque  nave 
and  Gothic  choir  belong  both  to  the  XII  century — Its  imaged  portico 
(c.  1132)  a  supreme  work  of  French  sculpture — Second  Crusade 
preached  by  St.  Bernard  at  Vezelay,  1146 — Philippe-Auguste  and 
Richard  Cceur-de-Lion  rallied  here  for  the  Third  Crusade,  1191. 

Burgundy's  best  Gothic  monuments — Collegiate  of  Notre  Dame  at  Semur 
a  gem  of  the  Burgundian  school,  begun  about  1225 — Its  sculpture 
exceptional — Auxerre  Cathedral  begun  in  1215,  the  model  of  Gothic 
churches  in  the  province — Auxerre's  sculpture  and  its  opaline  glass 
rank  with  the  first — Bishop  Jacques  Amyot  (d.  1593)  restored  the 
cathedral  after  the  Calvinists  sacked  it — Cathedral  of  Nevers  has 
an  apse  at  both  west  and  east  ends  (note) — Dijon,  the  capital  of  Bur- 
gundy, led  in  art,  under  its  four  great  dukes,  1364  to  1477 — Flemish- 
Burgundian  school  began  modern  imagery — Dijon's  cathedral  of 
St.  Benigne,  formerly  an  abbatial,  is  mediocre  late-XIII  century — 
Crypt  of  St.  Benigne  begun  1001 — Oldest  monument  of  the  Roman- 
esque renaissance — William  of  Volpiano,  abbot  of  St.  Benigne,  initi- 
ated the  revival  of  architecture  after  the  year  1000 — Rebuilt  Tournus 
abbey  church  (note) — Church  of  Notre  Dame,  Dijon,  is  a  gem  of 
Burgundian  Gothic  (1220-1240) — Its  subtleties  of  construction  have 
never  been  excelled. 

St.  Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairvaux  (d.  1153),  born  near  Dijon,  the  greatest 
son  of  Burgundy — His  reform  laid  the  spiritual  foundations  of  Gothic 
cathedrals — His  puritanic  taste  in  architecture  made  Cistercian 
churches  bare  and  simple — Cistercian  Order,  founded  1099,  instru- 
mental in  spreading  Gothic  over  Europe — St.  Stephen  Harding,  its 
practical  founder,  welcomed  St.  Bernard  at  Citeaux  in  1113 — Five 
hundred  Cistercian  monasteries  founded  in  Europe  before  the  middle 
of  XIII  century — Spirit  of  St.  Bernard,  greatest  of  Cistercians,  lives  in 
the  Imitation  of  Christ. 

X.       GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY        472 

Monastic  architecture  best  expression  of  Norman  character — Normandy, 
like  Burgundy,  was  a  land  of  monasteries — Bernay's  abbey  church  an 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

ancestress  of  Norman  Romanesque  (note) — Bee  Abbey,  the  Cluny 
of  Normandy — Lanfranc  made  the  school  of  Bee  world-noted — At 
Bee,  St.  Anselm  began  the  philosophical  movement  of  the  Middle 
Ages — William  of  Volpiano  pioneer  in  the  rebirth  of  architecture  in 
the  duchy — Jumieges,  the  first  Norman  church  of  architectural 
pretension,  begun  1040 — Only  vestiges  remain  of  St.  Wandrille 
abbey — Caen,  the  Mecca  of  Norman  Romanesque  and  the  queen  city 
for  towers — Three  good  towers  at  St.  Pierre-sur-Dives — St.  Georges 
de  Boscherville  the  best  type  of  Norman  Romanesque — Fecamp's 
Primary  Gothic  abbatial  rose  after  the  fire  of  1169 — Gothic  abbatial 
at  Eu  built  after  the  death  of  St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  1180 — Mont- 
Saint-Michel  the  greatest  of  Norman  abbeys — Its  Merveille  (Gothic 
halls),  building  from  1203  to  1228— Choir  of  Mont-Saint-Michel, 
the  best  work  of  Flamboyant  Gothic,  begun  1450. 

Rouen  Cathedral,  not  local  in  character — Its  tower  of  St.  Remain  begun 
in  1145 — Its  transept  facades  and  Lady  chapel  XlV-century  Rayon- 
nant  work — Abbatial  of  St.  Ouen  a  gem  of  Rayonnant  Gothic — No 
city  richer  than  Rouen  in  Flamboyant  Gothic  monuments — Trial  of 
Jeanne  d'Arc  at  Rouen  in  1431  and  her  Rehabilitation  in  1456. 

Lisieux  Cathedral  the  earliest  Gothic  cathedral  in  Normandy — Begun  after 
1160  as  Ile-de-France  Gothic — Its  Lady  chapel  built  by  Bishop  Pierre 
Cauchon,  Jeanne  d'Arc's  venal  judge. 

Evreux  Cathedral  not  homogeneous,  but  has  much  charm — Its  choir 
(1298-1310)  a  gem  of  Rayonnant  Gothic — XIV  century's  best  array  of 
glass  in  its  choir. 

Seez  Cathedral  modest  in  size — Norman  in  style — Its  choir  a  forerunner 
of  Rayonnant  Gothic — Has  XlV-century  windows. 

Bayeux  Cathedral  the  Gothic  of  the  duchy  at  its  best — Romanesque  part 
of  its  nave  remarkable — Bishop  Odo,  brother  of  the  Conqueror,  built 
the  crypt,  and  of  his  time  is  the  Bayeux  Tapestry — Choir  of  Bayeux 
a  masterpiece  of  Normandy's  elaborate  Gothic. 

Coutances  Cathedral  loveliest  in  Normandy,  begun  after  the  fire  of  1218 — 
Its  three  towers  notable — Aisles  of  choir  are  of  different  height. 

Gothic  art  of  Brittany — Brittany  more  a  land  of  shrines  than  cathedrals 
— Her  religious  soul  best  expressed  by  her  Calvarys — XHI-century 
cathedral  at  Dol  has  fine  eastern  window — Cathedral  at  Nantes 
possesses  the  last  great  work  of  Gothic  sculpture — Cathedral  of 
Quimper  very  Breton  in  spirit — St.  Pol-de-Leon  Cathedral  entirely 
complete — The  Kreisker  is  Brittany's  grandest  tower — St.  Yves  of 
Brittany  helped  build  Treguier  Cathedral. 

Summing  up — Gothic  art  gave  way  before  the  pagan  Renaissance  and  the 
contempt  for  legends  roused  by  the  Reformation.  In  the  World  War 
France  again  displayed  the  spirit  that  had  built  cathedrals.  Un- 
quenchable idealism  of  the  French  race. 

INDEX 583 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  .  ...    605 


SOISSONS    CATHEDRAL.    THE    TRANSEPT'S    SOUTHERN    ARM 

(c.    1180) Frontispiece 

POISSY.  AN  EARLY  EXAMPLE  OF  GOTHIC  VAULTING  (c.  1135)  Facing  P.  54 

ST.  DENIS-EN-FRANCE  AND  ITS  ROYAL  MAUSOLEUMS  ...  "  68 

NOYON'S  CHAPTER  HOUSE  (1240-1250) Page  83 

SENLIS'  TOWER  (c.  1230-1250)  Facing  P.  90 

THE  INTERIOR  OF  LAON  CATHEDRAL  (XII  CENTURY).  VIEW 

FROM  THE  TRIBUNE  GALLERY "  98 

THE  OXEN  ON  LAON'S  TOWERS "  106 

NOTRE  DAME  OF  PARIS.  VIEW  FROM  THE  SOUTH  ....  Page  127 
NOTRE  DAME  OF  MANTES  (1160-1200).  THE  CONTEMPORARY 

OF  PARIS  CATHEDRAL Facing  p.  162 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  MEAUX,  VIEWED  FROM  THE  NAVE'S  AISLE  "  168 
THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  CHARTRES  (1194-1240).  THE  SOUTHERN 

ASPECT Page  178 

THE  ANGEL  APSE  OF  EHEIMS  (c.  1220) "  196 

THE  TRANSEPT  OF  AMIENS  CATHEDRAL  (1220-1280)      .     .     .  Facing  p.  204 

THE  APSE  OF  BOURGES  (1200-1225) "  214 

ST.  URBAIN  AT  TROYES  (1264-1276) "  236 

LE  MANS  CHOIR  (1217-1254).    THE  DOUBLE  AISLES    ...  "  270 
ANGOULEME  CATHEDRAL.    A  X!!-CENTURY  CUPOLA  CHURCH 
OF   AQUITAINE   WITH   A   TYPICAL   FACADE   OF   POITOU'S 

ROMANESQUE  SCHOOL "  290 

THE  PLANTAGENET  TOMBS  AT  FONTEVRAULT "  298 

THE  PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  CHOIR  OF  ST.  SERGE  AT  ANGERS 

(1220-1225) "  312 

NOTRE   DAME   DU   PORT   AT   CLERMONT-FERRAND.    TYPICAL 
XII-CENTURY    CHURCH    OF    AUVERGNE'S    ROMANESQUE 

SCHOOL "  338 

LE  PUY  IN  OLD  AUVERGNE "  344 

THE  JACOBINS',  OR  DOMINICANS',  CHURCH  AT  TOULOUSE  (XIII 

CENTURY) "  358 

ALBI  CATHEDRAL  (1282-1399).     A  MIDI  FORTRESS  CHURCH  .  "  370 

THE  MEDLEVAL  CLOISTER  OF  ARLES   .                  .              .    .  *'  398 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  XI-CENTURY  SANCTUARY  OF  CLUNY  AS  IT  WAS  UNTIL  THE 

REVOLUTION Facing  p.    414 

VEZELAY'S  X!!-CENTURY  ABBEY  CHURCH  OF  THE  MADELEINE  "  436 

NOTRE  DAME  AT  DIJON  (1220-1245).  BURGUNDIAN  GOTHIC  "  452 

THE  CRYPT  OF  THE  ABBAYE-AUX-DAMES  AT  CAEN  (1059-1066)  "  484 
BELFRY  OF  ST.  PIERRE  AT  CAEN  (1308-1317).  PROTOTYPE  FOR 

THE  GOTHIC  TOWERS  OF  NORMANDY  AND  BRITTANY  .  .  "  490 
THE  HALL  OF  THE  KNIGHTS  AT  MONT-SAINT-MICHEL  (1203- 

1228).  SECOND  STORY  OF  THE  MERVEILLE "  500 

THE  CHOIR  OF  BAYEAUX  CATHEDRAL  (1210-1260).  TYPICAL 

OF  NORMANDY'S  ELABORATE  GOTHIC  "  546 


Sirilt 


ISmlt 


INTRODUCTION 

may  live  without  architecture,  and  worship 
without  her,  but  we  cannot  remember  without 
her.  How  cold  is  all  history,  how  lifeless  all 
imagery,  compared  to  that  which  the  living 
nation  writes  and  the  uncorrupted  marble 
bears.  There  are  but  two  strong  conquerors  of  the  forgetful- 
ness  of  men,  Poetry  and  Architecture,  and  the  latter  in  some 
sort  includes  the  former,  and  is  mightier  in  its  reality;  it  is 
well  to  have,  not  only  what  men  have  thought  and  felt,  but 
what  their  hands  have  handled  and  their  strength  wrought 
and  their  eyes  beheld,  all  the  days  of  their  life."1 

So  wrote  John  Ruskin  in  one  of  his  flashes  of  genius,  and 
never  was  word  truer.  Architecture  is  the  living  voice  of 
the  past.  Architecture  is  history.  By  architecture  the  fore- 
fathers from  whom  we  come  relate  to  us  their  progress  in 
knowledge,  their  prowess  in  handicrafts,  their  economic  condi- 
tions, their  sorrows,  their  rejoicings,  their  aspirations.  They 
wrote  it  down,  those  men  and  women  whose  blood  is  our  blood, 
on  great  stone  pages  of  perennial  beauty  for  us  to  read— 
if  only  we  would.  By  architecture  we  are  linked  in  a  grand 
solidarity  with  all  that  has  gone  before,  with  the  proud  periods 
of  history  that  thrill  us  as  we  read,  and  with  the  tragic  out- 
breaks of  the  oppressed  that  sadden  our  spirit. 

Whenever  men  have  set  themselves  to  forget  this  solidarity, 

1  Ruskin,  The  Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture. 

1 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

their  first  act  has  been  to  fling  themselves  in  frenzy  on 
cathedral  and  city  hall.  In  1914  they  forgot  it,  and  mighty 
Rheims  fell.  They  forgot  that  Bamburg  had  learned  its 
imagery  from  Rheims,  that  German  Norbert,  revered  of  St. 
Bernard,  had  helped  France  in  the  days  when  Gothic  art 
was  in  formation,  that  he  died  bishop  of  Magdeburg,  and 
Madgeburg  is  a  Primary  Gothic  cathedral  in  the  land  which 
frankly  called  the  new  architecture  opus  francigenum.  Would 
the  civic  halls  of  Noyon,  Arras,  St.  Quentin,  and  Ypres  lie 
in  ruins  if  Frankfort  and  Liibeck  had  remembered? 

In  1793,  man  again  thought  to  set  up  a  barrier  between 
himself  and  his  past,  and  he  shattered  the  art  treasures  of 
a  thousand  years  and  tore  down  the  cathedrals  of  Cambrai, 
Arras,  and  Avranches;  he  tore  down  Cluny,  the  greatest 
Romanesque  church  in  the  world,  Cluny  the  civilizer,  that 
had  removed  from  agriculture  its  stigma  as  serfs'  work. 
Man  fancied  that  to  shatter  and  demolish  was  to  build. 

Again  in  1562,  a  date  most  tragic  in  the  annals  of  Gothic 
architecture,  men  tried  again  to  rear  a  wall  of  hate  between 
themselves  and  the  generations  gone  before,  and  the  cathedral 
of  Orleans  met  the  fate  of  Cluny  and  Cambrai,  and  from 
end  to  end  of  France  images  were  decapitated,  and  ancestors' 
tombs  wrecked  impiously — even  the  tombs  of  spiritual  an- 
cestors who  with  painful  journeyings  afoot  had  brought  the 
gospel  light.  Whether  you  go  to  chapel  or  to  temple  to-day, 
to  meetinghouse  or  to  cathedral,  whether  you  worship  under 
the  open  sky,  be  you  a  reader  of  Marx  or  of  Aquinas,  you 
were  robbed  most  piteously  of  your  patrimony  in  1562,  in 
1793,  in  1914. 

How  is  it  to  be  prevented  again?  By  trying  to  make  the 
monuments  of  the  past  loved,  by  relating  the  tale  of  their 
building,  by  telling  the  life  story  of  the  builders.  If  we  know 
them  we  must  surely  revere  them,  and  when  we  have  learned 
to  know  and  to  love,  we  have  learned  to  be  liberal.  Archaeology 
is  to  teach  us  to  remember.  Those  who  have  gone  before 
have  passed  on  to  us  cathedral  and  town  hall;  it  is  our  obli- 
gation to  transmit  them  intact  to  those  who  come  after. 


INTRODUCTION 

They  are  not  ours  to  destroy.  Art  is  the  high-water  mark 
reached  by  civilization;  art  does  not  speak  in  English,  or  in 
German,  or  in  the  Latin  tongue,  but  in  a  language  understood 
of  all  peoples  and  all  times.  To  destroy  a  great  monument 
of  the  past  is  to  betray  civilization.  It  was  proved  in  1914 
that  erudition  is  not  safeguard  enough,  nor  is  enthusiasm, 
sighs  1793,  nor  purpose  to  reform,  admits  1562.  We  must 
comprehend  intelligently  our  own  personal  solidarity  with 
the  past.  We  must  never  look  at  a  noble  building  without 
proudly  realizing  that  we  had  a  hand  in  its  making.  Battles 
then  can  rage  around  cathedrals  without  danger  of  their  de- 
struction. As  in  golden  amber,  the  past  will  preserve  them, 
the  past  which  is  yours  and  mine  and  everyone's  heritage. 

It  is  a  right  instinct  which  makes  a  man  treasure  the  home 
he  has  had  transmitted  to  him  through  several  generations. 
How  much  more — when  loyalty  is  roused  by  an  XVIII-century 
or  a  XVII-century  habitation — should  emotion  be  felt  for 
what  was  reared  from  1140  to  1270  by  the  very  generations 
who  began  for  us  of  to-day  most  of  the  big  things  we  value: 
our  universities,  our  literature,  our  political  freedom,  our 
prosperous  trade. 

Now  in  the  making  of  these  infinitely  precious  things, 
France  played  the  leading  role.  Put  partisan  feeling  aside 
and  acknowledge  it  honestly.  "I  believe,"  said  Ruskin,  in  a 
lecture  at  Edinburgh,  in  1853,  even  before  the  new  science  of 
mediaeval  archaeology  was  formulated,  "that  the  French 
nation  in  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries  was  the  greatest  nation 
in  the  world,  and  that  the  French  not  only  invented  Gothic 
architecture,  but  carried  it  to  its  noblest  developments." 

French  Gothic  churches  are  a  fountainhead,  and  should 
rank  first.  Because  of  them  we  have  Westminster,  Ely,  and 
Lincoln,  we  had  Tintern,  Melrose,  Mellifont,  Holy  cross.  They 
built  the  Burgos,  Toledo,  Leon,  Seville,  and  Belem,  which 
have  given  wings  to  the  soul  of  the  Peninsula.  Because 
of  the  French  cathedrals  we  have  Cologne,  Magdeburg,  and 
Halberstadt,  Vienna,  Prague,  Upsala,  Siena,  Florence,  and 
Milan. 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

By  her  lyrics,  her  epics,  and  her  architecture,  France  was 
the  inspiration  of  Europe  in  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries. 
With  his  sword,  the  crusader  carried  compass  and  rule. 
Those  indefatigable  wanderers,  Cluny,  Citeaux,  and  the  men 
of  Premontre  and  Chartreuse  carried  with  them  the  chisel 
and  the  Book.  Then  as  now  the  commercial  traveler  was  a 
valiant  propagandist;  in  1181  a  cloth  merchant  of  Assisi,  re- 
turned from  trading  in  France,  where  he  had  seen  the  cathe- 
dral of  Lyons  rising,  or  perhaps  that  of  Paris,  or  that  of 
Poitiers,  and  he  had  passed  under  wonderful  new-imaged 
portals  in  the  Midi  and  in  Burgundy;  so,  in  memory  of 
beautiful  things,  he  chose  to  call  the  son  born  to  him,  Francis, 
and  the  boy  grew  up  to  love  and  to  chant  the  lyrics  of  France 
and  named  himself  "God's  little  troubadour." 

Backward  and  forward  has  moved  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
races  and  their  arts.  When  Celts  from  conquered  Britain 
passed  over  to  Armorica  they  carried  with  them  the  Arthurian 
cycle;  Teutonic  tribes,  strong  in  bone  and  tissue,  poured 
into  Gaul  a  very  avalanche;  masterful  Norsemen  populated 
the  seacoasts;  and  before  the  recording  of  time  the  Oriental 
and  the  Latin  had  made  their  home  in  the  land  between  the 
northern  seas  and  the  big  inland  water  of  commerce.  Does 
such  history  seem  too  remote  to  be  of  emotional  value?  Are 
personalities  lacking?  Not  so  in  the  missionary  days  of 
Columbanus  and  Benedict,  first  hewers  of  the  cathedrals' 
foundation  blocks,  for  never  came  a  great  movement  of 
building  activity  that  did  not  tread  in  the  steps  of  spiritual 
regeneration.  Your  forefathers  and  my  forefathers  came 
into  France  to  help  her,  to  bring  her  art  and  letters  in  her 
dark  hour.  They  came  to  teach  and  they  came  to  learn, 
to  succor  and  to  find  refuge.  They  came  in  the  persons  of 
Celtic  Columbanus,  Brieuc,  Malo,  Fiacre,  Malachy,  and 
holy  Laurence  buried  at  Eu,  as  English  Alcuin,  Stephen 
Harding,  John  of  Salisbury,  and  Saint  Edmund  Rich  buried 
at  Pontigny.  They  came  as  German  Radegund  and  the 
saintly  Bruno  and  Norbert,  as  Italian  Benedict,  Fortunatus, 
Hildebrand,  William  of  Volpiano,  Lanfranc,  Anselm,  Aquinas, 


INTRODUCTION 

and  Bonaventure,  as  Spanish  Dominic,  and  Portuguese 
Anthony.  They  came  from  Egypt  with  Maurice  and  his 
Thebans,  from  the  Levant  with  Irenseus  and  Giles,  from 
Hungary  with  Martin  the  soldier.  And  the  story  of  each 
one  of  them  is  recorded  in  the  churches  that  stand  in  France 
to-day.  Without  architecture  we  would  have  forgotten  them. 

With  the  ebbing  and  flowing  of  the  tide  in  the  affairs  of 
men,  a  day  arrived  when  the  big  people  and  the  little  people 
of  Normandy,  Poitou,  Anjou,  and  Flanders  passed  in  large 
numbers  into  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  in  the  wake  of  the 
Conqueror  and  of  Henry  Plantagenet,  so  that  the  very  names 
we  bear  are  those  of  the  cathedral  builders. 

Who  has  not  watched  the  widening  ripples  of  water  spread 
from  a  center?  Even  so  is  each  one  of  us  a  center  whence  in 
ever-widening  circles  stretch  out  our  progenitors,  embracing 
more  and  more  men,  more  and  more  women,  rippling  over 
the  pitiful  barricades  of  1793,  sweeping  over  the  factions  of 
1562,  till  by  the  time  the  widening  ripple  has  reached  the 
age  of  St.  Louis,  the  age  of  Suger,  it  is  scientifically  impossible 
that  we,  in  our  very  own  forefathers,  were  not  building  some 
of  the  eighty  cathedrals  and  three  hundred  great  minsters 
with  which  France  was  then  clothing  herself  as  with  a  white 
mantle  of  churches.  We  were  chatelaine,  and  burgher's 
wife,  we  were  villein's  daughter  and  knight's  son,  and  side  by 
side  we  harnessed  ourselves  to  carts  and  dragged  in  the  blocks 
for  the  tower  at  Chartres  and  the  belfry  at  Rouen,  and  the 
canticles  we  sang  during  our  voluntary  servitude  passed  into 
the  stones  and  are  still  chanting  there — if  only  we  would 
listen.  No  visionary  notion  this,  but  science  and  history. 
By  architecture  we  remember. 

Of  our  kin  was  the  bishop  who  sacrificed  his  revenue  to 
rear  God's  house.  Of  our  kin  were  the  architects,  masters  of 
the  living  stone,  who  with  inspiration  conceived  their  shrines 
of  Notre  Dame  and  were  trained  soundly  enough  in  mason 
craft  to  achieve  their  dreams;  of  our  kin  were  the  artisans 
who  put  up  the  serene  images  at  cathedral  doors  for  the 
edification  of  the  people,  and  chiseled  with  warm,  loving 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

touches  the  running  bramble  of  the  roadside.  Even  botany 
is  to  be  learned  in  mediaeval  cathedrals.  Not  a  leaf  that 
grows  in  Champagne  to-day  but  was  carved  on  the  walls  of 
Rheims  seven  hundred  years  ago.  Against  the  big  capitals 
of  Paris  Cathedral  they  laid  the  broad  plantain  leaf  of  the 
marshy  Oise,  then,  seeing  around  them  that  indigenous  acan- 
thus, the  uncurling  fern,  they  carved  it,  too,  and  as  they 
grew  adept  with  chisel  they  wrought  ivy  and  vine  leaf,  parsley 
and  holly,  and  in  time,  intoxicated  with  their  skill,  they  under- 
cut the  rich  foliage  and  serrated  the  lobes  and  curled  the 
leaf  edges,  till  summer  ran  riot  in  stone  and  the  architectural 
line  was  well-nigh  lost  sight  of  in  sheer  joy  of  nature's  glad 
livery. 

The  cathedrals  of  France  are  an  enduring  appeal  to  man's 
high  faculty  of  imagination.  In  them  we  go  crusading  again. 
We  scale  the  walls  of  Constantinople  with  doughty  Bishop 
Nivelon,  builder  of  Sessions  Cathedral,  we  are  ransomed 
from  Saracen  captivity  with  Bishop  Alberic,  builder  of  Rheims. 
We  repent  of  our  black  feudal  deeds  with  Fulk  Nerra,  and 
when  we  have  finished  our  footsore  penances  in  Holy  Land, 
we  punish  ourselves  in  our  purses,  raising  costly  abbeys  in 
Anjou  and  Touraine.  On  our  Eastern  pilgrimage  we  have 
seen  visions  of  Oriental  color,  and,  remembering  them,  we 
lighten  our  sober  churches  of  the  north  with  translucent 
mosaic  tapestries.  We  dot  our  Western  land  with  circular 
Holy  Sepulcher  temples.  It  is  said  that  Suger,  builder  of 
the  first  great  Gothic  church  in  the  world,  maker  of  jeweled 
windows  over  which  science  sighs  in  despair  of  emulation, 
used  eagerly  to  inquire  of  travelers  returned  from  the  East 
had  they  seen  aught,  even  in  St.  Sophia  itself,  to  surpass  his 
St.  Denis'.  We  are  rightly  sure  that  our  new  art  surpasses 
all  others.  We  may  borrow,  but  our  borrowings  are  creations. 

By  architecture  in  happy  promiscuity  we  crowd  to  the 
international  fairs  of  Champagne.  We  elbow  and  we  jostle 
to  see  \vhat  our  diligent  brothers,  the  art-loving  Flemish 
burghers,  have  brought  for  exchange,  or  what  things  beautiful 
the  merchants  from  south  of  the  Alps  have  to  barter.  To- 


INTRODUCTION 

day,  at  Troyes,  we  are  astounded  by  the  gathering  of  art 
treasures  in  that  lesser-known  city,  and  we  wonder  at  the 
mighty  rampart  walls  at  Provins.  Then  we  remember. 
It  is  architecture  that  will  not  let  us  forget  what  efficient 
traders  we  were  in  the  XIII  century. 

By  architecture  we  are  Benedictines  at  Cluny,  white  monks 
at  Fontenay,  of  Premontre  at  Braine.  Again  we  pace  in 
meditative  cloisters,  we  tuck  up  our  robes  to  delve  in  mother 
earth  to  make  the  desert  bloom,  we  illumine  parchment 
pages,  we  teach  the  plain-chant  to  children,  we  cast  bells, 
each  with  its  own  entity,  each  a  living  voice  for  the  people, 
named  with  its  own  name. 

By  architecture  we  are  one  of  the  thousands  athirst  for 
knowledge,  who  gather  at  the  feet  of  abstruse  debaters  in 
the  schools  of  Bee,  Auxerre,  Rheims,  Orleans,  Laon,  Chartres 
and  Paris,  king's  son  seated  on  the  rush-strewn  pavements 
next  to  peasant's  son,  both  equally  convinced  that  the  most 
thrilling  of  all  sciences  are  philosophy  and  theology.  Books 
are  scarce;  as  yet  no  printing  press;  we  must  wander  far 
to  gather  crumbs  of  learning;  our  strong  young  brains  are 
intact,  prepared  for  service  by  long  ages  of  active  bone  and 
muscle;  with  avidity  we  seize  on  problems  so  knotty  that 
the  learned  ones  of  1920  fear  to  touch  them.  "The  time  of  big 
theories  is  the  time  of  big  results."  It  is  we,  in  the  person  of 
the  Scholastics  who  built  Paris  Cathedral,  and  Laon,  the  in- 
tellectual,— churches  disciplined,  sober  and  strong.  It  is  we 
the  multitudinous  scholars  of  the  Middle  Ages  who  built 
Chartres,  the  wise  mystic,  and  opalescent  Auxerre,  and 
Chalons  on  the  Marne  of  Victory.  And  lest  the  hungry  gen- 
erations tread  us  down,  we  inscribed  our  loved  subtleties  on 
their  walls,  and  at  their  portals  placed  images  of  the  Liberal 
Arts. 

By  architecture  we  join  one  side  or  the  other  in  the  eternal 
struggle  of  Might  and  Right.  Sometimes  in  atonement  we 
spend  the  revenues  secured  by  heedless  Might  on  minster  or 
cathedral.  By  pain  and  struggle  we  have  won  our  city  charter, 
and  we  are  proud  to  record  in  God's  sight  and  man's  what 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

thrifty  burgesses  we  are,  what  trained  journeymen.  To  work 
is  to  pray,  say  the  cathedral  windows  set  up  by  furriers, 
butchers,  vintagers,  and  farm  laborers.  To  work  is  as  fine 
a  tiling  as  to  fight  at  Roncevaux  and  Mansurah,  as  did  our 
next-door  donor  neighbor  here.  The  little  people  of  the 
Lord  are  as  grateful  in  his  sight  as  the  noble  prucThommes. 
Le  bon  Dieu  likes  to  be  shown  how  a  tailor  cuts  his  cloth 
and  a  baker  bakes  his  bread  just  as  well  as  to  be  entertained 
with  pilgrimage  adventures  or  the  story  of  a  canonized  saint. 
Are  we  not  saints  in  the  making  if  only  we  can  get  the  better 
of  that  prowling  felon,  the  devil,  whom  we  have  set  up  over 
our  church  door  with  pitchfork  and  caldron  as  a  warning  to 
the  unwary? 

"O  men  and  women  of  to-day" — appeal  the  windows  at 
Chartres  and  Bourges  and  Tours — "y°u  whose  blood  is  our 
blood,  who  without  our  struggle  would  have  no  ordered 
government,  no  self-ruling  cities,  no  trade  to  bind  land 
with  land  in  the  sanity  of  peace,  no  arts  and  crafts,  why 
not  learn  to  read  our  story?  There  are  those  unable  to 
decipher  a  line  of  our  illumined  pages  who  will  assure  you 
that  we  were  sunk  in  gross  superstition,  that  our  sole  religion 
was  the  worship  of  bits  of  cloth  and  bone.  Yes,  even  from  the 
halls  founded  by  good  Robert  de  Sorbon  (in  order  that  youth 
with  its  lean  purse  might  get  a  free  education)  the  erudites 
marshal  against  us  every  human  frailty  of  our  hardy,  enter- 
prising times.  And  yet,  in  unparalleled  marvels  of  stone  and 
glass  we  have  recorded  the  deepest  sentiments  of  mankind. 
But  having  eyes,  they  see  not.  Come  then,  you,  and  interpret 
us.  Come,  and  through  us,  remember." 

Each  great  cathedral  is  pleading  to  us  by  the  alluring  half- 
smile  of  its  angels,  by  the  dignified  images  of  reverent  per- 
sonages at  its  entrances,  by  each  gargoyle,  each  faithful 
guardian  that  has  craned  his  neck  for  ages  to  keep  rain  water 
from  the  precious  walls.  Cease  to  be  so  superior  to  the 
legends  and  dreams  we  set  forth,  they  seem  to  be  saying. 
We  know  just  as  well  as  you  that  the  apostle  St.  Thomas 
did  not  have  all  the  adventures  raising  fairy  palaces  in 


INTRODUCTION 

India  which  we  put  to  his  credit  in  our  windows  and 
tympanums,  even  though  good  Bishop  James  of  Voragine,  in 
his  cycle  of  church  feasts,  our  iconographic  chart — Legenda 
Aurea — relates  it.  The  holy  Jerome,  close  to  the  desert  and 
the  origin  of  things,  real  and  apocryphal,  warned  us  not  to  be 
too  credulous.  But  symbols  and  legends  are  the  breath  of 
art,  as  art  alone  realizes  through  expression,  the  supersensual 
visions  of  mankind.  Are  there  not  millions  of  good  Christian 
folk  in  India  to-day?  Her  first  evangelist  builded  better 
than  ever  we  can  relate  by  our  imagery. 

We  are  not  at  all  dull,  plead  the  waiting  cathedrals.  En- 
cyclopaedias they  call  us.  Yes,  we  had  our  little  weakness 
for  symmetry,  for  the  mystic  beauty  of  numbers,  for  gathering 
into  "Mirrors"  all  the  knowledge  of  the  world.  But  how 
admirable  is  our  Mirror  of  Morals,  with  virtues  and  vices 
contrasted;  how  interesting  our  Mirrors  of  Nature  and  of 
History  that  tell  the  story  from  Genesis  to  Revelations,  and 
that  set  the  marvels  of  the  skies  and  man's  dumb  fellow 
creatures,  the  beasts,  side  by  side  on  the  walls  of  the  house  of 
worship,  with  David  and  Isaias,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul, 
Charlemagne  and  Louis.  And  our  Mirror  of  Knowledge — 
how  profound  it  is:  not  as  enemies  but  as  allies  would  it 
show  forth  science  and  religion.  We  are  no  more  dull  than 
the  Bible  is  dull,  than  the  Divina  Commedia  is  dull.  We 
satisfy  the  subtlest  intellects;  alike  the  lettered  and  the  un- 
lettered enjoy  us. 

Each  French  cathedral  and  each  minster  makes  its  own 
special  plea.  Lyons  reminds  us,  in  windows  of  apocalyptic 
radiance,  that  her  first  bishops  came  from  John  the  Apostle, 
that  Christian  blood  flowed  in  her  forum  as  generously  as 
in  Rome's  Coliseum.  Of  the  very  stones  of  the  Amphitheater, 
hallowed  by  her  martyrs,  is  her  cathedral  built,  and  the 
architectural  methods  of  the  north  and  the  south  are  welded 
here  in  the  ancient  central  city  of  Gaul  whence  rayed  out  the 
linking  highroads  of  Rome. 

At  Tours,  the  charity  of  Martin  to  a  beggar  is  recorded 
many  a  time,  for  it  civilized  middle  Europe.  Slow,  steady, 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

and  deep  were  the  accumulations  of  culture  by  the  Loire  of 
measured  horizons  and  classic  restraint.  A  tower  named  of 
Charlemagne  recalls  that  Saxon  Alcuin  filled  the  schoolrooms 
of  St.  Martin's  Abbey.  A  chiseled  tomb  reminds  us  that  here 
worked  the  last  sculptor  of  the  Middle  Ages  (loyal  to  its 
humble  and  profound  Christian  traditions),  as  well  as  the 
first  artists  of  the  imported  pagan  Renaissance. 

At  Le  Mans  and  Angers,  at  Fontevrault,  with  its  tomb  of 
Henry  Plantagenet,  who  gave  us  our  jury  system,  speak  those 
fighting  progressives,  the  Angevin  rulers;  and  all  their  love 
of  the  arts  and  of  adventure  endures  in  the  exotically  beautiful 
development  which  we  call  Plantagenet  Gothic.  An  unlettered 
king  is  an  uncrowned  ass,  said  a  X-century  count  of  Anjou. 

At  Poitiers,  city  of  St.  Hilaire  who  fought  the  Arians,  is 
the  most  glorious  window  in  the  world — Christ  triumphant  on 
the  Cross,  and  again  we  walk  in  procession  to  the  strain  of 
Bishop  Fortunatus'  hymn,  and  we  read  the  Church  Fathers 
in  Greek  and  Hebrew  in  Queen  Radegund's  cloister.  Aqui- 
taine's  line  of  troubadour  dukes,  passionate  sinners,  and 
prodigious  repenters  lives  in  every  church  in  the  old  hill 
city,  from  the  cathedral  wherein  Alienor  blended  the  indigenous 
art  of  her  own  Poitou  with  the  Plantagenet  suppleness  of 
her  Angevin  husband,  to  the  cupola-covered  abbatial  of  St. 
Hilaire,  where  her  son,  Richard  the  Lion-hearted,  was  in- 
stalled as  duke. 

At  Caen  we  live  with  the  Conqueror  and  Matilda  in  their 
penitential  abbey-churches,  full  of  thought  and  purpose,  the 
architecture  of  hieratic  pre-eminence  which  Normandy  passed 
on  to  England.  At  Coutances,  the  cathedral  walls  record 
the  Tancreds,  so  the  people  say;  close  by  was  the  eyrie  of 
that  eagle  brood  who  set  up  kingdoms  in  Italy  and  the  Orient. 
At  Rouen  we  mutter  with  the  crowd  in  the  market  place 
that  a  grievous  shame  it  is  to  burn  a  saint  as  a  witch,  and 
in  reaction,  soon  we  are  to  rear  monuments  whose  every  line  is 
jubilant  freedom.  At  Rheims  we  are  crowned  kings  in  a 
cathedral  so  sumptuous  that  on  coronation  days  it  needed 

no  tapestries  to  adorn  its  walls.    At  Clermont  and  at  Vezelay 

10 


INTRODUCTION 

we  don  the  crusaders'  insignia  with  cries  of  enthusiasm.  The 
lavish  art  of  Bourges  tells  of  Jacques  Cceur's  largess,  the 
princely  merchant  who  financed  the  army  that  rid  France  of 
her  invaders,  just  as  clearly  as  the  ducal  tombs  and  imagery 
at  Dijon  relate  the  pageantry  of  the  XV-century  Burgundian 
life.  The  stones  of  Pontigny  tell  of  Becket  the  martyr,  whose 
cause  impassioned  all  Christendom,  as  many  a  sculptured 
group  and  storied  window  in  France  relate,  and  of  another 
great  Englishman,  Stephen  Langton,  who  passed  from  this 
cloistral  peace — dividing  the  Bible  into  chapters  for  us — to 
the  Magna  Charta  struggle  in  England.  By  architecture  we 
remember. 

Until  we  have  seen  Albi's  aggressive  fortress-church  what 
do  we  really  know  of  the  Albigensian  heresy,  of  the  disease 
un-European,  antichristian,  antisocial,  that  bred  in  the 
precocious  civilization  of  Languedoc?  What  do  we  know 
of  that  terrible  struggle  called  a  crusade',  when  the  greedy 
barons  of  the  north  descended  on  the  Midi  (ever  brutal  and 
refined),  thinking  to  cure  its  soul  by  the  sword  and  with  the 
same  blows  to  carve  out  for  themselves  rich  principalities? 
Forever  is  the  story  told  in  the  Jacobins'  church  at  Toulouse, 
in  the  red  cathedral  fortress  above  the  Tarn. 

All  the  isolating  pride  of  feudalism  is  resumed  in  the  ramparts 
of  Carcassonne  and  Aigues-Mortes,  all  the  frustrated  destiny 
of  Narbonne  in  its  vast  fragment  of  a  cathedral,  all  the  un- 
broken links  with  the  Latin  are  in  the  sculpture  at  Aries  and 
St.  Gilles,  all  the  immemorial  story  of  la  grande  bleu  in  Ma- 
guelonne's  solitary  church.  By  architecture  we  remember. 

The  Celtic  remnant,  that  in  the  volcanic-torn  uplands  of 
middle  France  inflicted  on  Caesar  his  sole  defeat,  lives  always 
in  the  churches  of  Auvergne,  so  stubbornly  indigenous,  planted 
so  sturdily,  contriving  decorative  beauty  from  the  regional 
varicolored  lava  stones.  In  the  granite  churches  of  Brittany 
endures  all  the  aloof  individuality,  the  sensitive  independence, 
the  tenacious  traditionalism  of  the  dwellers  by  the  sea  in 
the  far-north  outpost  of  France.  We  have  our  souls  to  keep, 

say  the  lowly  Breton  shrines,  we  have  always  been  too  busy 

11 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

doing  that  to  find  time  to  erect  great  churches.  But  once 
our  neighbors,  the  Normans,  taught  us  tower-building,  our 
Celtic  imagination  leaped  au  dela  by  their  spires,  so  we  raised 
our  royal  Kreisker  which  far  out  to  sea  welcomes  home  our 
Breton  sailors. 

Architecture  is  history.  Architecture  is  what  the  old  Greeks 
said  of  history,  "philosophy  teaching  by  examples."  The 
cathedrals  of  France  prove  that  there  is  no  supreme  architec- 
ture where  there  is  not  liberty  or  the  will  to  attain  it.  In 
1109  the  bishop-baron  of  Noyon  granted  his  city  a  charter, 
the  first  communal  written  laws  on  record.  In  1145  Noyon 
began  to  build  the  first  Gothic  cathedral  of  France.  In  the 
Ile-de-France,  where  from  the  nation's  birth  were  lived  its 
intensest  hours,  sprang  up  the  churches  which  are  the  most 
national,  the  most  racially  French  in  character,  Noyon,  Senlis, 
Soissons,  Laon,  Paris. 

The  history  of  architecture  proves  that  without  a  right- 
minded  national  pride,  ready  to  make  sacrifices  in  order  that 
it  may  transmit  its  high  deeds  to  the  future,  no  mighty  monu- 
ments rise.  In  1214  Bouvines'  victory  was  won  and  French 
unity  demonstrated.  In  1220,  not  far  away,  was  laid  the 
foundation  stone  of  Amiens  Cathedral,  the  crowning  achieve- 
ment of  the  national  art.  A  hazard,  such  juxtaposition?  Ah, 
no.  Nothing  happens  by  chance  in  this  science  of  the  builder 
whose  basic  forces  are  long  at  work  in  silence.  Architecture 
is  the  truthteller  of  history. 

The  history  of  France,  which  in  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries 
meant  universal  history,  is  written  on  the  walls  of  the  cathe- 
drals built  under  Philippe-Auguste  and  his  grandson  St.  Louis, 
during  the  full  flowering  of  the  new  national  art.  And  in  the 
days  when  France  was  neither  happy  nor  good  nor  great, 
when  faith  flagged,  when  a  minority's  blind  greed  of  gold  ended 
the  international  fairs,  drove  out  the  Jews,  overtaxed  the 
clerical  church  builders,  when  the  crusading  enthusiasm  ended 
in  a  Templars'  process,  then  the  structural  logic  of  Gothic 
architecture  turned  to  pitiless  geometry.  So  proclaim  the  cold, 

uninspired  XlV-century  churches,  and  few  of  them  ever  were 

12 


INTRODUCTION 

built.  It  seemed  almost  as  if  the  Gothic  cycle  had  run  its 
course.  The  XII  century  had  seen  its  rise;  the  XIII  century 
its  apotheosis;  the  XIV  century  its  decline.  Was  the  last 
word  said?  Churches  are  not  built  by  generations  that  live 
in  ceaseless  war,  in  misrule,  or  under  a  foreign  yoke. 

There  was  to  be  another  chapter  for  the  Gothic  tale.  As- 
piration was  born  again,  national  pride  lifted  its  head  and  art 
flowered.  Not  from  beyond  the  mountains  or  the  sea  came 
the  needed  missionary  this  time,  nor  from  a  Carolingian 
palace,  nor  out  of  Norman  and  Burgundian  cloister.  No 
saint-king  was  to  lead  now,  but  only  a  young  girl  from  a 
peasant  hamlet. 

When  Jeanne  d'Arc  broke  the  spell  of  foreign  invasion,  when 
she  gave  France  a  new  soul,  then  all  over  the  land  rose  that 
paean  of  rejoicing  which  we  call  Flamboyant  Gothic  art,  for 
verily  it  flamed  up  with  joy.  Never  will  you  see  an  arch  of 
double  curvature,  accoladed,  soaring  to  its  triumphal  finial, 
never  will  you  gaze  at  radiant  belfries  rising  richer  and  richer 
with  each  story,  never  will  you  pray  beneath  a  late-Gothic 
pageantry  picture  window  with  its  mullions  swaying  in  exalta- 
tion, but  the  thought  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans  and  her  mission 
will  come  to  you.  This  Flamboyant  art  may  run  riot  in 
details  like  any  modern,  but  it  remains  true  in  its  essentials 
to  the  Middle  Ages.  Forever  will  it  tell  of  the  freeing  of 
France  from  foreign  rule,  even  as  the  academic  Rayonnant 
phase  sets  forth  the  lowered  ideals  of  Philippe  le  Bel,  or  the 
ampleness  of  XHI-century  Gothic,  the  creative  age  of  Louis 
IX  and  his  augmenting  grandfather.  No  regional  schools  were 
there  in  the  last  manifestations  of  the  national  art;  they  built 
the  same  at  Albi  as  at  Rouen,  at  Bordeaux  as  at  Lyons,  for 
an  entire  people  shared  the  same  feeling  of  recovered  self- 
respect. 

You  can  learn  to  read  it  by  yourself,  learn  to  remember,  if 
only  you  are  not  repelled  by  that  stiff  word  "archaeology." 
Just  what  generation  made  Dijon's  crypt  and  Morienval's 
ambulatory,  put  the  masonry  roofs  on  the  Caen  abbatials, 
chiseled  the  column  statues  at  the  doors  of  Angers,  Le  Mans, 

13 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

and  Chartres,  made  of  Bourges*  procession  path  a  heavenly 
way  of  ruby,  sapphire,  emerald,  and  topaz,  raised  the  tower 
at  Senlis,  paid  tribute  to  St.  Cecilia's  gentleness  in  the  white 
imagery  of  Albi's  grim  fortress — that  is  archaeology.  Archae- 
ology tells  how  Cluny  lifted  up  a  prostrate  Christendom,  how 
the  Normans  conquered  England,  how  Abbot  Suger  reformed 
himself,  how  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  exhorted  Europe,  how  the 
Lion-hearted  went  crusading  as  had  his  fascinating  mother 
before  him,  how  Simon  de  Montfort  won  the  Midi,  how  the 
wily  Philippe-Auguste  enlarged  his  domain,  province  by 
province — and  all  the  while  most  of  the  Gothic  cathedrals  of 
France  laid  their  foundations — and  how  the  bon-saint-homme- 
roy,  truest  lover  of  the  builders'  art,  sat  under  an  oak  tree, 
dispensing  justice  at  first  hand,  with  his  loyal  Joinville  seated 
close  beside  him.  That  is  archaeology.  It  is  written  down 
clearly  on  great  stone  pages  of  perennial  beauty  for  us  to  read — 
if  only  we  will.  A  little  knowledge  of  construction's  laws  is 
needed  to  show  us  how  to  see.  A  little  more  of  history  to 
guide  us  when  to  feel.  If  to  love  we  must  know,  to  know  we 
must  set  ourselves  to  learn.  Even  in  these  days  of  easy  motor 
travel  one  cannot  go  about  book-laden.  But  there  are  open 
libraries  in  French  cities  where  an  inquirer  is  courteously  lent 
the  monographs  on  the  town's  monuments,  or  the  big  folios 
that  picture  the  storied  windows.  It  has,  therefore,  appeared 
advisable  to  give,  with  each  cathedral,  a  list  of  its  biographies, 
for  they  may  be  of  use  some  rainy  afternoon  in  France. 

It  seems  almost  unnecessary  to  remind  ourselves  that 
in  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries  the  Church  of  Europe — 
barring  the  Greek  schism — was  one  and  united,  save  for  the 
quarrels  inseparable  from  all  manifestations  of  mankind's 
history,  and  that  the  Protestant  of  to-day  descends  from  the 
same  mediaeval  forefathers  as  does  the  Catholic,  from  the  same 
builders  of  cathedrals,  crusaders,  feudal  proprietors,  and  com- 
mune winners.  To  refuse  sympathy  to  the  two  best  centuries 
of  the  Middle  Ages  because,  three  hundred  years  later,  oc- 
curred a  break  in  western  Christendom  is  as  illogical  as  the 

attitude  of  those  historians  who  would  liken  the  religious  move- 

14 


INTRODUCTION 

ment  of  the  XVI  century  to  the  antisocial  outcrop  of  Oriental 
dualism  called  the  Albigensian  heresy. 

Let  us  then,  with  open  minds,  turn  to  this  art  of  the  builder, 
"the  strongest,  proudest,  most  orderly,  most  enduring  of  the 
arts  of  men  that  if  once  well  done  will  stand  more  strongly 
than  the  unbalanced  rocks,  more  prevalently  than  the  crum- 
bling hills;  the  art  which  is  associated  with  all  civic  pride  and 
sacred  principle;  with  which  men  record  their  power,  satisfy 
their  enthusiasm,  make  sure  their  defense,  define  and  make 
dear  their  habitation."1 

1  Ruskin,  Sesame  and  Lilies. 


CHAPTER  I 

What  Is  Gothic  Architecture?1 

Le  temps 

Oil  tous  nos  monuments,  et  toutes  nos  croyances 
Portaient  le  manteau  blanc  de  leur  virginit6 
Oil  sous  la  main  de  Christ,  tout  venait  de  renaitre. 

— ALFRED  DE  MUSSET. 

BOUT  the  year  1000  a  new  spirit  animated  the 
art  of  the  builder  in  France.  That  rebirth,  to 
which  has  been  given  the  name  Romanesque, 
held  sway  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  had 
reached  its  apogee  when,  in  mid-XII  century,  it 
was  superseded  by  the  architecture  we  call  Gothic.  Gothic 
architecture  did  not  spring  up  like  a  mushroom.  Like  all 
manifestations  of  art,  it  was  the  logical  fulfillment  of  its  prede- 
cessor. Romanesque  and  Gothic  were  phases  of  the  same  art. 
The  dethronement  of  Romanesque  was  a  voluntary  abdication 
in  favor  of  younger,  more  efficient  leadership:  "What  is  called 
the  birth  of  Gothic  is  but  the  coming  of  age  of  Romanesque." 

The  Xl-century  monks  who  built  monastic  churches  cleared 
the  path  for  the  laymen  builders  of  the  Gothic  cathedrals. 
With  persistency,  with  courage,  the  monk  architects  went 

1  Louis  Gonse,  L'art  gothique  (Paris,  Quantin,  1891);  Camilla  Enlart,  Manuel 
d'archeologiefran<;aise  (Paris,  A.  Picard  et  Fils,  1902),  2  vols.,  8vo;  ibid.,  Monuments 
religieux  de  I' architecture  romane  et  de  la  transition  dans  la  region  picarde  (Paris,  A. 
Picard  et  Fils,  1895),  folio;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  L 'architecture  religieuse  dans  Vancien 
diocese  de  Soissons  au  XIe  et  au  XIIe  siecle  (Paris,  Plon,  1894-97),  2  vols.,  folio; 
Arthur  Kingsley  Porter,  Medieval  Architecture,  Its  Origins  and  Development  (New  York 
and  London,  1909),  2  vols.;  C.  H.  Moore,  Development  and  Character  of  Gothic  Archi- 
tecture (New  York,  Macmillan,  1904);  Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  "La  transition,"  in 
Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1895-9G,  vols.  44,  45,  and  1912-13,  pp.  206,  263;  R.  de  Lasteyrie, 
L 'architecture  religieux  en  France  a  Vepoque  romane  (Paris,  1912),  chap,  x;  ibid., 
in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1902,  vol.  45,  p.  213,  his  answer  to  Mr.  Bilson,  and  Mr. 
Bilson's  reply;  Louis  Regnier,  "Les  origines  de  1'architecture  gothique,"  in  Mem. 
de  la  Soc.  hist,  et  archeol.  de  Pontoise,  vol.  16;  John  Bilson,  "The  Beginnings  of  Gothic 
Architecture,"  in  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  3d  series,  1898- 
99,  vol.  6,  pp.  289,  322,  345;  p.  259  (answer  to  M.  de  Lasteyrie);  vol.  9,  p.  350;  Mr. 
Bilson's  papers  were  given  in  part  in  Revue  de  Vart  chretien,  1901,  vol.  44,  pp.  369, 
462;  F.  M.  Simpson,  A  History  of  Architectural  Development  (London,  1909). 

16 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

forward,  seeking  a  way.  And  the  way  sought,  the  problem 
on  which  they  concentrated  their  energies,  was  how  to  protect 
their  churches  by  masonry  vaulting  without  sacrificing  ampli- 
tude or  lighting.1 

Out  of  their  trials  to  solve  that  problem  there  emerged  a 
new  principle  of  construction,  and  Gothic  architecture  was  then 
born.  Thrust  and  counterthrust  was  the  law  of  its  being. 
Instead  of  the  Romanesque  idea  of  equilibrium  by  dead  load, 
by  sheer  mass,  which  may  be  called  a  continuous  counter- 
butting  of  the  vault's  thrust,  there  now  was  substituted 
equilibrium  by  intermittent  abutment.  By  means  of  diagonal- 
crossing  ribs  the  vertical  and  lateral  thrusts  of  the  stone  roof 
were  collected  at  fixed  points,  which  points  alone  had  to  be 
counterbutted.  Thick  walls  were  a  necessity  in  a  Romanesque 
edifice,  if  it  were  to  be  stable,  but  in  a  Gothic  building  the  walls 
could  be  made  a  mere  shell,  since  all  the  work  was  done  by  an 
active  skeleton,  a  bone  structure  of  stone,  consisting  of  piers, 
arches,  and  buttresses. 

To  define  shortly,  Gothic  architecture  is  the  art  of  erecting 
buildings  with  vaults  whose  ribs  intersect  (concentration  of 
load)  and  whose  thrusts  are  stopped  by  buttresses  (the  ground- 
ing of  the  thrusts).  The  never-ceasing  downward  and  out- 
ward thrust  of  the  vaulting  is  met  by  an  equivalent  resistance 
in  pier  and  buttress  and  solid  earth.  Equilibrium  results  from 
that  well-adjusted  opposition  of  forces. 

Since  the  starting  point  in  the  development  of  Gothic  was 
the  vaulting,  and  how  to  substitute  a  stone  vault  for  a  wooden 
roof  was  the  germinal  idea  of  the  Romanesque  builder,  it  is  no 
digression  to  turn  to  the  earlier  school,  the  chrysalis  of  Gothic. 
The  name  "Romanesque"  is  an  affair  of  yesterday,  employed 
by  a  French  archaeologist  about  1825.  Various  local  designa- 
tions had  hitherto  been  used,  such  as  Lombard,  or  Norman, 
or  Romano-Byzantine,  but  the  term  Romanesque  for  this 
architecture  is  as  suitable  as  the  name  Romance  is  for  the 

1  "  Gothic  architecture  did  not  arise  from  a  reaction  against  the  principles  of  Roman- 
esque: on  the  contrary,  it  is  the  natural  development  of  those  principles,  the  logical 
consequence  of  the  germ  idea  of  the  Romanesque  builders,  which  was  to  protect  the 
naves  of  their  churches  by  vaults  of  stone."— R.  DE  LASTEYBIE. 

17 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

popular  languages  which,  in  that  same  period,  were  forming 
out  of  the  corruption  of  Latin.  A  definition  given  by  M. 
Camille  Enlart  is  excellent:  "Romanesque  art  was  a  product 
of  Rome,  animated  by  a  new  spirit,  and  combined  with  a 
certain  number  of  elements  of  barbarian  or  Oriental  origin." 

Rome  gave  the  basilica  plan  to  western  Europe,  which  for 
centuries  continued  to  build  its  churches  as  oblong  halls  with 
a  small  apse  at  one  end.  The  hall,  or  nave,  consisted  of  a 
central  vessel  with  side  aisles  that  were  divided  from  it  by 
piers.  In  the  treatment  of  vaulting  and  the  method  of  stone 
laying  Romanesque  architecture  also  derived  from  Rome. 
Byzantine  influences  certainly  were  important,  but  they 
affected  the  decoration  more  than  the  plan  or  the  structure; 
the  use  of  the  Byzantine  cupola  was  merely  occasional.  The 
Romanesque  masters  copied  the  ivories  and  miniatures  of  the 
Eastern  Greeks  till,  in  time,  they  turned  to  nature  for  their 
models,  and  then  their  work  took  on  new  life  and  evolved 
into  the  glory  which  is  Gothic  sculpture. 

While  some  have  laid  stress  on  the  Oriental  influences, 
rather  than  those  of  Rome,  in  the  formation  of  Romanesque 
art,  others  have  overemphasized  the  personality  and  fantasy 
introduced .  into  French  architecture  by  the  Barbarian  inva- 
sions. No  doubt  the  influx  of  new  blood  added  new  elements, 
but  since  knowledge  of  the  invaders'  art  is  fragmentary,  there 
can  be  no  scientific  base  for  the  theory.  Composite,  certainly, 
were  the  causes  for  the  new  spirit  which  animated  architecture 
after  the  Carolingian  day,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  in- 
fluence of  Rome  predominated. 

In  the  course  of  the  centuries  the  Roman  basilica  was  modi- 
fied by  the  Catholic  liturgy.  For  catechumens,  or  penitents, 
was  made  the  porch,  or  narthex,  before  the  western  end. 
Tribunes  were  built  over  the  side  aisles.1  Increased  church 
ceremonial  brought  about  a  development  of  the  choir.  The 


1  Any  raised  balcony,  or  gallery,  in  a  church  is  called  a  tribune.  The  term  will  be 
used  here  mainly  for  the  deep  gallery  over  side  aisles.  The  making  of  tribunes  was 
brought  about  by  the  custom,  in  early  Christendom,  of  separating  the  ages  and  sexes; 
in  primitive  days  the  kiss  of  peace  used  to  be  given  among  the  congregation. 

18 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

custom  of  burying  the  dead  in  crypts  under  the  main  altar 
originated  the  raised  chancel.  Between  the  choir  and  the  nave 
the  builders  began  to  insert  a  transverse  nave  called  a  transept.1 
Such  an  enlargement  enabled  the  congregation  to  approach 
closer  to  the  altar  ceremonies;  only  the  bigger  churches  built 
transepts  in  the  XI  century.  Then  the  liturgical  writers  saw 
in  a  transept  the  extended  arms  of  the  Cross,  and  it  was  in  that 
spirit  the  XIH-century  transepts  were  made — their  sym- 
bolism was  posterior.  The  first  ambulatories  were  no  doubt 
built  in  churches  which  possessed  some  revered  relic,  to  facil- 
itate the  passage  of  the  pilgrim  crowd.  (The  term  ambulatory 
will  be  used  to  designate  the  continuation  of  the  choir  aisle 
round  the  apse.)  Before  long  that  curving  processional  path, 
with  radiating  apsidal  chapels  opening  from  it,  was  taken  to 
represent  the  crown  of  thorns  about  the  Sacred  Head.  "All 
things  as  pertain  to  offices  and  matters  ecclesiastical  be  full  of 
divine  signification  and  mysteries,  and  overflow  with  a  celestial 
sweetness:  if  so  be  that  a  man  be  diligent  in  his  study  of 
them,  and  know  how  to  draw  honey  from  the  rock  and  oil 
from  the  hardest  stone."  So  wrote  William  Durandus,  the 
XIH-century  French  bishop  whose  Rationale,  or  treatise  on 
church  symbolism,  was  an  inspiration  for  centuries  and,  next 
to  the  Bible,  the  most  frequently  printed  book  of  the  older 
times.2 

Despite  a  host  of  additions  to  the  basilica  of  Rome — transept, 
ambulatory,  a  long  choir,  apse  chapels,  towers — despite  the 
discarding  of  the  classic  orders  and  of  antiquity's  use  of  a 
veneer  of  finer  stone  (the  Romanesque  builder  used  the  un- 
adorned stone  of  his  own  region)  the  church  of  western 
Europe  remained,  in  general  plan,  a  Roman  basilica.  Like 
Rome,  they  covered  their  main  vessel  by  a  flat  wooden  roof, 
although  they  knew  how  to  build  barrel  and  groin  vaulting.3 

1  Transept,  or  across  inclosure,  from  trans,  across,  and  sepirc,  to  inclose. 

2  Guillaume  Durandus,   Rationale  Divinorum  Officiorum,   translated  as    The  Sym- 
bolism of  Churches  and  Church  Ornaments  by  Neale  and  Webb  of  the  Camden  Society 
(Leeds,  T.  W.  Green,  1843). 

3  The  barrel  vault  (a  half  cylinder)  was  known  to  the  Egyptians  and  Assyrians. 
Rome  used  it  extensively,  also  the  groin  vault  (made  of  two  intersecting  half  cylinders) . 

19 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Now  a  wooden  roof  is  an  easy  prey  for  fire.  Such  roofs, 
a  succession  of  long-continued  invasions,  and  the  faulty  con- 
struction of  Merovingian  and  Carolingian  churches  are  ac- 
countable for  the  fact  that  in  France  to-day  is  no  church  that 
predates  the  year  1000.  Some  portions  of  ancient  wall  are 
embedded  in  later  work,  and  some  few  early  crypts  are  intact. 
But  to  speak  with  certainty  of  Merovingian  and  Carolingian 
architecture  is  impossible,  though  they  formed  the  incubating 
phase  of  Romanesque  art. 

In  France  the  IX  and  X  centuries  were  periods  of  over- 
whelming disaster.  In  the  Midi  were  Saracen  incursions. 
In  northern  and  central  France  Norman  pirates  wiped  out 
Charlemagne's  revival  of  art.  As  far  as  Poitiers  and  Clermont 
the  Northmen's  path  of  destruction  extended.  "Look  where 
you  will,"  wrote  Flodoard,  the  chronicler,  "the  sky  is  red  with 
fires."  To  the  litany  was  added  a  new  invocation — A  furore 
Normannorum,  libera  nos,  Domine. 

The  falling  to  pieces  of  Charlemagne's  civilization  and  the 
general  return  of  social  disorders  have  led  to  an  overdramatic 
contrasting  of  the  year  1000,  when  mankind,  in  terror,  an- 
ticipated the  ending  of  the  world,  with  the  rebirth  of  hope 
and  of  building  energy,  when  the  dread  day  had  passed. 
Whenever  the  gaunt  horses — famine,  pest,  war,  and  death- 
are  afoot,  humanity  is  prone  to  look  for  the  fulfillment  of  the 
apocalyptic  prophecy.  Previous  to  the  X  century  the  final 
day  had  been  awaited,  and  the  same  superstition  was  to  seize 
on  the  world's  imagination  in  following  centuries. 

The  X  century  was  certainly  a  desperate  age.  Fifty  years 
of  it  were  famine,  and  on  the  highroads  people  were  killed  for 
food.  But  the  evils  did  not  cease  precisely  with  the  year  1000; 
also  it  should  be  noted  that  a  certain  number  of  churches  were 
begun  before  the  XI  century  opened.  However,  to  mark  the 
start  of  a  new  art  life  the  year  1000  is  a  convenient  date  if  we 
bear  in  mind  that  it  was  not  a  sharp  division  between  Caro- 
lingian and  Romanesque  architecture,  since  a  gradual  evolution 
took  place.  All  through  the  XI  century  the  vital  renewal  of 
architecture  went  on,  and  churches  were  built  which,  to  this 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

day,  are  unrivaled  for  their  profound  religious  spirit.  They 
exist  to  tell  us  that  in  the  harsh  life  whence  they  emerged 
there  were  enlightened  cases.  They  vindicate,  by  their  grand 
simplicity  and  detachment  of  soul,  the  men  who  built  them. 
Never  was  an  art  less  one  of  routine  than  this  of  the  so-called 
hidebound  monks,  an  art  of  a  people  reborn,  full  of  youth's 
daring,  an  art  that  was  never  to  have  an  old  age,  eager,  untiring, 
experimental,  an  art  that  fitly  generated  the  most  scientifically 
sound  of  architectures — Gothic. 

The  heterogeneous  races,  Celtic  and  Gallo-Roman,  Germanic, 
and  Norse,  whose  conflicts  long  had  held  France  in  anarchy, 
were  at  last  welding  into  one  people.  The  advent  of  a  vigorous 
third  dynasty,  under  whose  leadership  social  conditions  im- 
proved, was  another  cause  of  art's  rebirth.  Not  long  after 
1000  the  bishops  formulated  the  Treve  de  Dieu,  by  which  peace 
was  enforced  on  the  turbulent  lords  from  Wednesday  night 
to  Monday  morning.  With  interval  of  peace  came  commerce 
and  wealth  and  the  security  necessary  for  works  of  the  imagina- 
tion. The  rebuilding  of  churches  was  inevitable. 

Invasions  and  wholesale  conflagrations  had  impressed  on 
the  mediaeval  mind  the  necessity  of  a  church  roof  more  durable 
than  wood,  but  a  masonry  vault  over  a  wide  space  was  a 
constructive  feat  too  difficult  to  be  achieved  immediately.  In 
fact,  up  to  the  very  end  of  the  XI  century,  though  the  builders 
had  succeeded  in  vaulting  with  stone  the  crypt,  the  apse,  and 
the  side  aisles,  they  continued  generally  to  cover  the  wide 
central  vessel  in  wood.  However,  the  fecund  idea  was  at  work. 
From  the  time  that  it  took  possession  of  their  imagination, 
to  the  day  when  Gothic,  its  fulfillment,  was  clearly  enunciated, 
there  was  over  a  century  of  continuous  effort — roughly  speak- 
ing, from  the  year  1000  to  the  memorable  day  in  1144  when 
was  dedicated  the  first  truly  Gothic  monument  of  considerable 
size — the  abbey  church  of  St.  Denis.  Within  that  energetic 
span  of  years  is  embraced  the  Romanesque  architecture  of 
France.1 

" There  are  few  things  more  interesting,  more  instructive,  or  more  beautiful  in 
human  history  than  the  spectacle  of  those  early  cowled  builders  struggling  against  all 

21 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  monk,  Raoul  Glaber,  wrote  an  account  of  the  rebirth 
of  architecture  after  the  year  1000.  It  has  been  quoted  to 
weariness,  but  is  none  the  less  a  valuable  contemporary 
record.  The  whole  earth,  he  says,  as  of  one  accord  seemed 
to  throw  off  its  tatters  of  old  age  and  to  reclothe  itself  in  a 
white  mantle  of  churches.  The  monastery  in  which  lived 
monk  Raoul,  St.  Benigne,  at  Dijon,  was  one  of  the  first  to 
inaugurate  the  new  century,  and  its  present  crypt  dates  from 
the  year  1001.  Soon  after  1017  the  monks  of  Mont-Saint- 
Michel,  in  the  far  corner  of  Normandy,  began  a  new  church, 
to  which  belonged  part  of  the  present  nave.  At  Chartres, 
Bishop  Fulbert  undertook  to  rebuild  his  cathedral  after  the 
fire  of  1020,  and  the  vast  crypt  which  to-day  astonishes  every 
beholder  was  his  work. 

The  chronicler,  Raoul  Glaber,  lived  under  the  rule  of  the 
most  powerful  monastic  brotherhood  ever  organized,  Bene- 
dictine Cluny,  embracing  several  thousand  houses  scattered 
over  Europe.  Founded  in  910,  during  the  darkest  years  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  Cluny  kept  alive  the  light  of  learning  and  art, 
"the  solitary  torchbearer  that  passed  on  the  flame  from  the 
spent  glow  of  Charlemagne  to  the  Gothic  rekindling."  Her 
monks  were  the  pioneers  of  civilization.  Cluny  beat  back 
barbarism  with  a  pertinacity  that  should  make  hers  an 
honored  name  in  history.  So  established  was  her  reputation 
as  a  civilizer  that  William  the  Conqueror  wrote  to  the  great 
Abbot  Hugues,  to  beg  from  him  Cluny  monks  for  England, 
saying  that  he  would  pay  their  weight  in  bullion. 

Cluny  formed  the  savants  who  made  the  XII  century 
memorable.  Her  fertile  seed  provided  Europe  with  doctors, 
ambassadors,  bishops,  and  popes.  Gregory  VII  had  passed 
through  her  discipline,  and  in  his  giant  task  of  reform,  it  was 
from  Abbot  Hugues  that  he  solicited  monks  of  Cluny.  Urban 
II,  who  set  in  motion  the  First  Crusade,  had  been  a  monk  in 


difficulties  and  disadvantages,  and  laying  the  foundations  of  a  new  art  which  was, 
in  the  stronger  hands  of  their  lay  successors,  to  culminate  in  the  marvels  of  Chartres 
and  Amiens." — CHARLES  HERBERT  MOORE,  Development  and  Character  of  Gothic 
Architecture  (New  York,  Macmillan,  1904). 

22 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

the  great  Burgundian  house.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  a 
generation  of  reforming  pontiffs  accompanied  the  expansion 
of  the  Romanesque  movement.  This  would  seem  to  contradict 
the  notion,  which  many  hold,  that  the  clergy  profits  by  keep- 
ing the  people  in  superstitious  ignorance.  It  is  when  religion 
is  purified  of  its  dross  that  man's  respiritualized  faith  out- 
flows in  generous  donations  to  the  Church. 

St.  Benedict  had  taught  his  sons  that  work  as  well  as  prayer 
was  a  part  of  salvation.  The  monks  of  Cluny  fostered  agri- 
culture, thus  taking  away  its  stigma  as  serf's  work.  Thierry 
speaks  of  the  mediaeval  monastery  as  a  model  farm.  In 
Cluny  craftsmen  of  every  kind  were  trained;  its  school  of 
music  was  noted,  and  along  the  roads,  as  they  traveled,  the 
monks  from  Burgundy  sang  canticles.  But  the  art  of  arts 
for  Cluny  was  that  of  the  builder,  the  supreme  art  that  takes 
into  its  service  all  the  others,  to  lead  them  to  the  glorification 
of  God's  house.  When,  in  bands  of  twelve,  the  monks  of 
Cluny  set  out  to  colonize  in  Spain,  in  Germany,  in  Italy, 
in  Poland,  everywhere  they  carried  with  them  the  tool  as 
well  as  the  Book.  As  a  rule  they  conformed  in  each  province 
to  the  local  building  traditions.  There  was  never  a  distinct 
Cluny  school  of  Romanesque  architecture. 

By  the  end  of  the  XI  century  the  main  provincial  centers 
of  France  had  each  evolved  its  own  special  building  character- 
istics. French  Romanesque  architecture  has  been  divided 
into  some  six  or  seven  regional  schools — those  of  Normandy, 
Burgundy,  Auvergne,  Poitou,  Languedoc,  Provence,  and  a 
minor  school,  the  Franco-Picard.1 

1  Let  us  run  briefly  over  the  French  Romanesque  schools  to  gain  an  idea  of  the 
monk  builder's  activities. 

Normandy  displayed  a  powerful  regional  genius,  and  carried  through  her  Roman- 
esque churches  with  native  thoroughness.  Her  school  was  formulated  early.  By 
1040  Jumicges  abbey  church  was  begun,  and  within  thirty  years  the  two  abbeys  of 
Caen  were  building.  Norman  Romanesque  used  the  alternate  system  of  piers,  a 
central  lantern  tower,  cubic  capitals,  and  a  geometric  sculpture.  Their  architects 
were  inclined  to  be  overcautious;  up  to  the  advent  of  Gothic  they  often  covered  the 
middle  nave  with  a  timber  roof,  though  they  vaulted  the  side  aisles  with  stone. 

Burgundy's  Romanesque  school  was  bolder.  Groin  and  barrel  vaultings  covered 
side  aisles  and  central  vessel;  and  the  transverse  arches  which  braced  the  vaulting 
were  often  pointed,  since  it  was  found  that  such  an  arcb  exerted  less  side  thrust. 

23 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

In  their  efforts  to  protect  their  churches  by  masonry  roofs, 
these  various  regional  schools  made  use  of  the  barrel  vault 


Some  of  Burgundy's  monastic  churches  were  as  lofty  and  spacious  as  the  coming 
Gothic  cathedrals.  However,  to  obtain  proper  lighting  by  clearstory  windows  she 
sacrificed  stability,  and  years  later  the  Gothic  builders  had  to  add  flying  buttresses 
to  prevent  the  collapse  of  the  Romanesque  churches.  In  this  region  where  Gallo- 
H 01  nan  art  had  flourished,  channeled  pilasters  were  used.  As  was  to  be  expected 
of  the  province  where  Cluny's  arts  and  crafts  were  centered,  Burgundy  was  a  leader 
in  monumental  sculpture,  and  such  portals  as  Avallon,  Autun,  and  Vezelay  attest 
her  skill. 

Aurergne  produced  a  distinctive  Romanesque  school.  Her  art  sprang  direct  from 
the  ancient  Roman  traditions  in  the  province.  More  cautious  than  her  neighbor  Bur- 
gundy, she  soon  gave  up  trying  to  light  her  upper  nave  by  clearstory  windows,  but 
obtained  light  indirectly  from  side  aisles  and  from  a  central  tower.  A  precocious 
use  of  the  ambulatory  and  of  apse  chapels  appeared  in  the  region.  The  two  most 
striking  features  of  her  churches  were  the  octagonal  central  tower  set  on  a  barlong 
base,  and  the  apse  whose  exterior  walls  were  decorated  by  the  volcanic  polychrome 
stones  of  the  district. 

Poitous  Romanesque  school  also  developed  early,  and  it,  too,  sacrificed  spaciousness 
to  solidity.  The  side  aisles  were  made  of  almost  equal  height  as  the  central  vessel, 
and  one  roof  covered  all.  The  church  interiors  were  often  somber  and  cramped. 
The  apse  exterior  was  ornamented,  and  the  boast  of  the  region  is  its  richly  sculptured 
facades  of  which  that  of  Notre-Dame-la-Grande  at  Poitiers  is  one  of  the  best  examples. 

Languedoc  built  Romanesque  churches  of  the  first  rank,  such  as  St.  Sernin  at  Tou- 
louse, but  the  school  had  no  definite  uniformity.  Sometimes  it  combined  with  the 
Romanesque  of  Poitou,  sometimes  with  that  of  Auvergne,  or  of  Burgundy.  Because  of 
Cluny  affiliations,  the  Midi  school  was  strong  in  sculpture — witness  Beaulieu,  Cahors, 
Moissac,  and  Toulouse. 

Provence  Romanesque  covered  a  more  limited  area.  Usually  the  churches  were 
'aisleless,  with  a  simple  apse.  A  flat  stone  roof  was  laid  directly  on  the  barrel  vaulting, 
which  had  pointed  transverse  ribs  like  those  of  Burgundy.  Provence  also  used  the 
fluted  pilasters  of  antiquity.  The  many  remains  of  Gallo-Roman  sculpture  in  the 
region  served  as  models  for  the  notable  imaged  portals  at  St.  Gilles  and  Aries. 

The  Franco-Picard  school  had  scarcely  developed  when  it  was  supplanted  by  the 
nascent  Gothic  art.  Besides  these  regional  schools,  two  unique  experiments  in  vault- 
ing were  essayed,  though  neither  spread  far  afield.  At  Tournus,  in  the  abbey  church 
of  St.  Philibert  was  built  a  series  of  barrel  vaults  (carried  on  lintels)  placed  side  by 
side  transversely  over  the  central  vessel.  And  in  Aquitaine,  in  the  region  of  Perigueux 
and  Angouleme,  spreading  in  a  line,  north  and  south,  arose  a  number  of  churches, 
each  bay  of  which  was  covered  by  a  cupola.  Both  these  experiments  were  but  partial 
solutions.  While  mediaeval  archaeology  was  obscure,  the  pointed  arch  was  looked 
on  as  the  sine  qua  non  of  Gothic,  and  it  was  puzzling  to  find  it  in  certain  Romanesque 
churches,  like  those  in  Burgundy  and  Provence.  The  pointed  arch  was  in  use  in 
Persia,  in  the  VI  century,  and  the  Arabs  early  brought  the  form  to  Egypt,  Sicily, 
and  Spain.  From  the  XI  century  it  had  appeared  sporadically  in  Christian  Europe. 
Such  arches  were  not  the  first  step  in  a  new  architecture,  but  were  used  either  as 
a  decorative  feature  or  as  an  expedient  to  lessen  the  side  thrust  of  a  vault.  From 
outside  of  France  two  schools  of  Romanesque  art,  the  Lombard  and  the  Rhenish, 
exerted  considerable  influences  on  their  neighbor,  but  the  forces  paramount  in  each 
of  the  local  French  schools  were  the  pre-Lombardic  pre-Rhenish  inheritances  from 
Rome,  blended  with  indigenous  traditions. 

24 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

or  the  groin  vault.  The  latter  was  found  too  insecure  to 
span  a  wide  space.  Now,  the  thrust  of  a  barrel  vault  was 
exerted  along  the  whole  length  of  the  wall,  which  necessitated 
a  continuous  abutment — in  other  words,  an  enormously  thick 
wall.  Only  small  windows  could  be  opened.  Since  the  Roman- 
esque architect  had  the  ambition  to  light  his  church  well, 
and  not  to  encumber  his  floor  surface  by  clumsy  piers,  a 
barrel  vaulting  could  be  but  a  temporary  solution  of  the  main 
problem. 

The  struggle  for  a  satisfactory  stone  roof  was  pursued 
tenaciously.  Many  a  clearstory  wall  was  thrust  apart  by  the 
vaulting's  pressure.  Thus  the  abbey  church  of  Bee,  finished 
in  the  'forties  of  the  XI  century,  was  reconstructed  in  the 
'fifties,  and  three  times,  again,  had  to  be  rebuilt.  No  failure 
could  daunt  the  courage  of  those  old  monastic  builders. 
Already  inherent  in  the  newly  amalgamated  race  was  the 
creative  genius  of  France.  Perseverance  and  courage  were 
to  have  their  reward. 

The  theory  long  taught  in  the  Ecole  des  Chartes  was  that 
in  the  first  part  of  the  XI  century,  among  a  number  of  rural 
churches  in  the  royal  domain,  there  gradually  came  into  use 
the  member  which  was  to  revolutionize  the  science  of  build- 
ing. The  idea  did  not  spring  from  one  brain;  it  was  a  collective, 
not  an  individual,  triumph.  When,  under  some  groin  vault, 
no  doubt  at  first  to  reinforce  it,  some  obscure  mason  con- 
structed the  earliest  intersecting  stone  ribs,  the  first  step  in 
Gothic  architecture  had  been  taken.1 

From  that  essential  organ,  the  other  characteristics  of 
Gothic  art  were  deduced :  flying  buttress,  slender  piers,  expanse 
of  windows.  In  a  Gothic  vault  the  infilling,  or  web,  rested 
elastically  on  the  diagonal  ribs.  As  the  load  of  the  stone 
roof  was  thus  concentrated  at  fixed  junctures,  it  was  necessary 
to  reinforce  only  those  given  points.  Buttresses  became 


1  Home  had  used  some  brick  lines  under  the  surface  of  certain  of  her  groin  vaults. 
They  performed  no  separate  function,  but  were  embedded  in  the  vaults'  concrete. 
The  true  Gothic  vault  has  the  ribs  independent  of  the  infilling.  In  their  elasticity 
is  their  strength. 

25 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

intermittent.  All  the  disintegrating  force  of  the  heavy  vault- 
ing was  gathered  on  the  diagonally  crossing  arches.  An 
arch  never  sleeps,  said  the  old  Arab  proverb.  Let  us  then, 
said  the  mediaeval  architect,  set  a  guard  on  it  that  also  never 
sleeps;  and  from  that  idea  he  proceeded  to  develop  the  greatest 
architecture  of  all  times.  The  force  of  expansion  was  counter- 
acted by  a  proportionate  force  of  compression.  By  means  of 
a  framework  made  up  of  vault  ribs,  of  piers,  of  buttresses, 
and  flying  buttresses,  the  edifice  became  a  living  skeleton. 
The  walls  between  the  active  members,  when  relieved  of 
their  load,  served  merely  as  screen  inclosures  and  could  be 
carved  into  fragile  beauty  and  hung  with  transparent  tapestries 
of  colored  glass.  Because  the  flying  buttress  transmitted  a 
large  part  of  the  vault's  pressure  to  the  exterior  buttress 
piles,  the  piers  within  the  church  could  be  lessened  in  diameter, 
and  greater  capacity  be  given  to  the  interior. 

Each  new  trial  was  a  lesson  learned.  It  was  only  with 
time  that  they  adjusted  precisely  the  sufficient  counterpoise 
to  the  thrust  of  the  vaults;  it  was  only  by  degrees  that  the 
pier's  diameter  was  lessened,  only  with  practice  that  was 
learned  the  placing  of  flying  buttresses  neither  too  high  nor 
too  low.  At  first  many  a  flying  buttress  was  made  needlessly 
heavy.  The  solid  wall  in  between  the  buttresses  was  not 
discarded  all  at  once.  In  the  first  Gothic  churches  windows 
continued  to  be  single  lights,  then  two  or  three  lancets  were 
placed  side  by  side,  subsequently  each  light  was  subdivided 
by  mullions,  and  gradually  an  elaborate  fenestration  developed. 
For  a  time,  too,  the  round  arch  continued  in  use,  and  the 
earliest  vault  ribs  were  semicircular.  With  the  fusion  of  the 
equilateral  arch  and  the  counterbutted  intersecting  ribs,  the 
essence  of  Gothic  architecture  was  achieved. 

Lesser  consequences  of  the  new  form  of  vaulting  followed  in 
logical  succession.  Obeying  the  law  that  it  is  the  thing  borne 
which  commands  the  form  of  the  thing  that  bears,  the  ribs 
may  be  said  to  have  drawn  out  of  the  sturdy  pier  of  Roman- 
esque art  the  clustered  columns  of  Gothic  gracefulness. 

Not  a  single  beauty  in  a  Gothic  church  but  has  a  structural 

26 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

explanation.  The  soaring  pinnacles  that  crown  the  buttresses 
are  apparently  mere  ornaments,  but  in  reality  those  gallant 
little  bits  of  decoration  are  of  sound  engineering  usefulness. 
By  weighting  the  buttresses,  they  hasten  to  channel  the 
transmitted  lateral  thrust  of  the  vaulting  into  a  vertical 
pressure,  and  they  increase,  too,  the  counterthrust  of  the 
flying  buttress  against  the  side  walls. 

A  clear  comprehension  of  Gothic  is  impossible  unless  the 
fact  be  grasped  that  architecture  is  nothing  if  not  structural, 
and  that  no  decoration  can  veil  a  faulty  skeleton.  Orna- 
mentation is  the  spontaneous  blossoming  of  the  structure, 
else  it  is  meaningless — a  principle  many  a  modern  architect 
might  well  digest.  Too  long  has  the  most  scientifically  exact 
of  architectures  been  judged  by  its  embellishments,  which 
often  enough,  in  the  hands  of  the  copyist,  do  become  a  florid 
veneer  without  reason. 

The  Gothic  master-of-works  was  right  when  he  said  that 
nothing  which  was  inherently  needed  could  be  ugly.  No 
longer  were  flying  buttresses  hidden  under  the  cover  of  wooden 
roofs.  Proudly  ranged  about  the  church,  those  essential 
practical  members  became  one  of  the  distinctive  beauties  of 
the  new  science  of  building.  Renan,  with  his  treacherous 
half  praise,  has  called  the  flying  buttress  a  crutch  needed  by 
an  architecture  which,  from  its  start,  nourished  the  seeds  of 
decay,  since  it  was  based  on  no  sound  constructive  formula. 
Its  success  was  a  prestidigitator's  trick,  he  said.  Such  criticism 
misunderstands  the  A  B  C  of  Gothic  lore.  Can  a  living 
limb  be  called  a  crutch?  it  has  been  aptly  asked.  The 
Gothic  cathedral  is  not  only  the  most  complicated,  but  is 
also  the  most  complete,  organism  ever  conceived  by  man. 

Where  the  first  diagonal-crossing  ribs  are  to  be  found  will 
probably  never  be  known.  Various  have  been  the  claimants. 
The  Rhenish  claim  is  no  longer  taken  seriously.  Gothic  made 
its  first  appearance  in  Germany  as  a  fully  developed  French 
art,  and  its  XHI-century  name,  there,  was  opus  francigenum. 
In  his  Gothic  work  the  Teuton  showed  a  fondness  for  the 
tour-de-force  and  his  manual  dexterity  surprises  more  than 

27 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

it  satisfies.  The  best  German  works  in  architecture  are  the 
sober  Romanesque  churches.  Germany's  school  was  developed 
a  century  before  the  Romanesque  of  France;  across  the 
Rhine  occurred  no  Norman  invasion  to  sever  art  traditions 
from  Charlemagne's  renaissance.  The  pre-Gothic  art  suited 
her  ethnical  temperament,  and  was  long  adhered  to.  While 
France  was  building  Gothic,  Germany  was  still  erecting 
Romanesque  cathedrals.  Not  till  the  end  of  the  XII  century 
were  churches  along  that  "rue  des  moines,"  the  Rhine,  vaulted 
in  the  new  manner. 

The  claim  of  Italy  to  be  the  first  to  use  the  diagonal  ribs  is 
denied  by  most  French  archaeologists,  but  is  put  forward  by 
the  Italian  scholar  Rivoira  and  by  Mr.  Arthur  Kingsley 
Porter.1  The  latter  cites  the  church  of  Sannazzaro  Sesia  as 
showing  proofs  that  its  high  nave  was  Gothic  vaulted  by 
1040.  For  a  century,  he  says,  the  Lombard  churches  used 
diagonals,  especially  in  Milan,  where  wood  was  scarce  and 
it  was  easier  to  build  permanent  brick  ribs  under  the  groin 
vault  than  to  mold  the  groin  on  a  temporary  substructure. 
Diagonal  ribs  were  invented,  he  thinks,  as  a  device  to  econo- 
mize wood.  That  may  be  true  of  the  Lombard  churches,  of 
which  he  has  made  an  elaborate  study.  And  it  may  be  true 
that  the  use  of  such  diagonals  filtered  into  Provence  and 
Languedoc,  where  appeared  some  early  Gothic  vaults  sporadi- 
cally before  1150,  at  Frejus,  Marseilles,  Maguelonne,  and 
Moissac,  all  with  the  rectangular  profile  of  the  Lombard 
type.  The  theory  he  advocates  does  not  prove  why  the  Ile-de- 
France  masons  could  not  themselves,  without  hint  from 
Lombardy,  have  stumbled  on  the  new  feature  which  was 
to  revolutionize  the  builder's  art.  Why  should  we  prefer 
his  explanation  for  the  first  use  of  diagonals — the  desire 
to  economize  wood — to  that  advanced  by  the  French  scholars — 
the  effort  to  brace  a  falling  groin  vault? 

1  G.  T.  Rivoira,  Lombardic  Architecture  (London,  Heinemann,  1910).  Translated 
from  Le  origini  dell'  architettura  lombarda  (Milano,  1908);  Arthur  Kingsley  Porter, 
Lombard  Architecture  (New  Haven,  Yale  University  Press,  1917),  3  vols.  and  Atlas; 
ibid.,  The  Construction  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults  (New  Haven,  Yale  University 
Press,  1911). 

28 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

Mr.  Porter  acknowledges  that  not  a  single  Lombard  church 
was  rib-vaulted  throughout,  that  the  Lombard  architects 
never  counterbutted  their  diagonals  properly,  that  their 
vaults  proved  unsatisfactory,  so  that  after  1120  they  returned 
to  their  groin  and  barrel  vaulting,  or  used  timber  roofs,  in 
those  regions  where  wood  abounded.  The  destruction  of 
Milan  through  the  German  invasion,  in  1162,  was  a  fatal 
blow  to  Lombard  architecture.  We  can  only  conjecture  how 
northern  Italy  might  have  worked  out  the  problem  of  stone 
roofs.  The  best  definition  of  Gothic,  thinks  Mr.  Porter,  is 
Professor  Moore's,  which  concludes  thus:  "Wherever  is  want- 
ing a  framework  maintained  on  the  principle  of  thrust  and 
counterthrust,  there  we  have  not  Gothic."  The  Lombard 
churches  never  met  the  vault  thrust  with  counterthrust  of 
buttress.  Surely  not  in  Lombardy  was  conceived  the  new 
system  of  construction? 

S.  Ambrogio  at  Milan  was  cited  as  Voeuvre  initiale,  till  it 
was  proved  that  it  was  built  not  in  the  IX  century,  but  after 
1067;  and  as  later  disasters  necessitated  reconstructions, 
none  of  the  present  diagonals  was  extant  before  1198.  S. 
Abondio  at  Como,  consecrated  by  Urban  II,  in  1095,  has 
some  very  early  intersecting  ribs,  but  they  are  more  a  step 
toward  the  new  system  than  a  true  Gothic  vault,  since  the 
ribs  merely  reinforce  and  do  not  carry  the  cells. 

M.  Camille  Enlart  contends  that  the  systematic  use  of 
Gothic  in  Italy  was  not  earlier  than  the  second  quarter  of 
the  XIII  century,  and  was  brought  across  the  Alps  by  French 
Cistercian  monks.  Though  for  centuries  Italy  used  it,  she 
apprehended  its  constructive  principle  imperfectly.  Because 
she  possessed  a  Niccola  Pisano,  a  Giotto,  a  family  of  Cosmati  to 
veil  the  poverty  of  her  Gothic  skeleton  with  details  of  con- 
summate beauty,  criticism  is  silenced.  Her  best  Gothic 
monument,  the  cathedral  of  Siena,  was  insecure  because  of 
technical  errors.  Always  was  Italy  adverse  to  showing  the 
mechanism  by  which  an  edifice  stood;  few  flying  buttresses 
were  ever  built  south  of  the  Alps.  She  preferred  the  classic 
wide  spacing  of  piers,  an  unencumbered  interior,  and  small 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

windows  against  her  hot  sun.  Who  remembers  that  he  is 
in  a  Gothic  church  when  in  the  somber  cathedral  of  Florence? 
Its  long  nave  is  divided  into  four  bays  where  a  northern 
church  would  have  used  eight.  For  Italy  the  Renaissance 
was  a  whole-hearted  return  to  a  national  art  which  she  could 
fully  understand. 

No  people  outside  of  France  better  understood  and  de- 
veloped Gothic  art  than  the  English.  Their  claim  to  priority 
is  based  on  the  date  of  the  cathedral  of  Durham,  whose  choir- 
aisle  diagonals  Mr.  John  Bilson  says  are  as  early  as  1093. 
Since  those  diagonals  show  no  hesitation,  they  must  have 
been  preceded  by  others.  Where  in  England  are  there  to 
be  found  the  earlier  trials?  The  English  claim  is  practically 
a  Norman  one,  and  Normandy's  experimental  work  in  Gothic 
vaultings  remains  to  be  traced.  Rivoira  claims  that  Lombard 
influences  predominated  in  the  formation  of  Normandy's 
Romanesque  school.  Can  the  Norman  be  said  to  have  dis- 
cerned in  diagonals  their  immense  possibilities  any  clearer 
than  had  the  Lombard? 

Those  among  the  French  archaeologists  who  have  disputed 
the  Norman  claim  to  priority  say  that  the  principal  span  of 
Norman  and  English  churches  was  covered  with  timber 
roofs  far  into  the  XII  century.  We  know  that  the  Gothic 
vaulting  of  the  two  abbey  churches  of  Caen  were  XH-century 
additions,  and  M.  de  Lasteyrie  thought  the  same  was  true 
of  Durham,  though  Mr.  Bilson  has  convinced  MM.  Enlart 
and  Lefevre-Pontalis  that  Durham's  choir-aisle  vaults  are 
an  original  part  of  the  cathedral  begun  in  1093.  Not  till  1174, 
when  Guillaume  de  Sens  began  Canterbury  Cathedral,  did 
French  Gothic  architecture,  in  its  plenitude,  appear  in 
England. 

The  question  of  priority  remains  an  open  one.  It  might 
almost  be  said  that  vaulting  with  intersecting  ribs  began  to 
appear  here  and  there  simultaneously,  that  if  it  had  not 
cropped  out  in  the  Ile-de-France,  it  would  have  appeared  in 
Normandy,  or  vice  versa.  And  not  long  after  them,  the 
builders  in  Burgundy  and  Anjou  began  to  use  it.  Before  1150, 

30 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

isolated  samples  of  the  Gothic  rib  vault  appeared  at  Vezelay, 
Poitiers,  Bordeaux,  Quimperle,  Moissac,  St.  Gilles,  Marseilles. 
The  hour  was  ripe  for  the  solution.  Gothic  architecture  was 
the  spontaneous  invention  of  French  builders  at  the  dawn  of 
the  XII  century,  at  a  time  when  the  poetry  of  France  was 
imposing  itself  on  the  whole  of  Europe. 

L'oeuvre  initiale  will  never  be  known.  However,  there  was 
a  region  where  the  early  use  of  the  ogival  vault  was  not 
accidental,  but  systematic,  one  spot  in  the  heart  of  France 
where  it  immediately  made  a  school,  since  there  it  found  no 
strong  earlier  traditions  to  overcome,  where  it  became  a 
living  organism  and  went  through  a  succession  of  logical 
developments  until  it  had  taken  on  the  main  characteristics 
of  the  new  art.  There  is  one  center  from  which  Gothic  archi- 
tecture spread  out  with  slow,  sure  march  into  the  neighboring 
regions.  In  the  Ile-de-France,  all  the  trials  were  summed  up 
and  developed  by  Abbot  Suger  at  St.  Denis.  From  1140  to 
1144  he  wedded  definitely  the  pointed  arch  with  the  diagonal 
rib. 

The  French  masters,  who  have  contended  that  the  Ile-de- 
France  is  the  cradle  of  Gothic  architecture,  have  had  lesser 
controversies  among  themselves  as  to  which  special  portion 
of  the  royal  domain  led  in  the  evolution.  M.  Woillez,  a 
pioneer,  considered  the  environs  of  Beauvais  the  favored 
spot;  M.  Saint-Paul  looked  to  the  districts  between  Normandy 
and  Paris;  M.  Enlart  sought  the  nucleus  in  Amiens  diocese 
in  Picardy;  and  M.  Lefevre-Pontalis  chose  the  classic  diocese 
of  Soissons.  The  two  latter  masters  have  modified  their 
views  since  studying  Durham's  vaults,  and  they  may  modify 
them  further  in  regard  to  Lombardy's  early  use  of  diagonals. 
The  controversy  is  not  closed. 

The  France  of  that  day  was  more  a  feudal  confederation 
than  a  united  kingdom,  and  some  of  the  king's  vassals  ruled 
territories  larger  than  his  own.  If  the  feeling  of  nationality 
is  created  as  much  by  great  achievements  in  common,  as  by 
political  boundaries  and  the  ties  of  blood,  if,  as  all  now  agree, 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  Crusades,  those  holy  wars  against  a 

31 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

common  foe,  helped  to  weld  the  rival  sections  of  France  into 
one  nation,  surely  that  other  enthusiasm  of  the  day,  those 
other  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  the  building  of  the  Gothic  cathe- 
drals, played  an  important  part  in  forming  the  national  soul. 
From  end  to  end  of  France  they  were  building  when  at  the 
battle  of  Bouvines  a  French  king  united  with  the  jealous 
barons,  with  clergy  and  with  burgess  and  with  villein  in  a 
common  defense  of  their  native  land.  King,  clergy,  lords, 
and  people  fought  at  Bouvines,  and  king,  clergy,  lords,  and 
people  built  the  big  national  churches.  All  the  energies  of 
the  tunes  went  to  their  making,  all  the  primitive  strong 
purposes,  all  the  newly  stirred  intellect  of  the  schools.  Science 
was  as  needed  for  them  as  inspiration,  for  without  the  long 
manual  training  of  the  guilds,  the  mystic  glow  had  not 
sufficed. 

There  has  crept  into  various  architectural  manuals,  since 
first  M.  Viollet-le-Duc  voiced  it,  a  theory  which  scarcely 
needs  refuting,  so  disproved  is  it  by  modern  research.1  Gothic 
art  is  considered  as  the  layman's  expression  of  revolt  against 
the  Romanesque  art  of  the  monks,  an  idea  that  denies  the 
structural  sequence  of  the  two  phases  of  the  same  art,  and 
would  present  Gothic  as  a  reaction  against  its  predecessor, 
instead  of  its  supreme  development. 

We  read  that  a  cathedral  was  built  as  a  sort  of  assembly 
hall  for  the  rising  communes,  and  not  pour  loger  le  bon  Dieu. 
Now  in  every  known  case  it  was  the  bishop  who  started  the 
rebuilding  of  each  cathedral,  and  the  works  usually  began 
with  the  choir,  the  part  of  a  church  suitable  only  for  the  cult. 
Even  when  a  bishop,  in  his  character  of  proprietor  of  a  city 
(as  in  the  case  of  Rheims  and  Laon),  opposed  the  communal 
claims,  he  and  the  people  went  on  building  their  cathedral 


1  E.  Viollet-le-Duc,  Dictionnaire  raisonnt  de  I' architecture  franqaise  du  Xle  au  XV le 
siecle  (Paris,  1875),  11  vols.;  Anthyme  Saint- Paul,  Viollet-le-Duc  et  son  systeme  archeo- 
logique  (Tours,  1881).  The  masterly  technical  knowledge  of  M.  Viollet-le-Duc  did 
much  to  remove  the  stigma  of  caprice  and  extravagance  which  the  neo-classic  age 
had  fixed  on  Gothic  art.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  pioneer  who  struck  good  blows  for  the 
rehabilitation  of  Gothic  should  have  jeopardized  the  permanence  of  his  work  by  giving 
free  rein  to  his  personal  prejudices. 

32 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

together.  We  have  precious  documents  to  assure  us  in  what 
spirit  of  piety  the  work  was  done.  All  classes  and  all  ages, 
women  as  well  as  men,  gave  their  voluntary  labor  to  the 
new  works,  after  having  confessed  and  communicated  in 
pious  confraternities;  sometimes  it  was  for  an  abbot  that 
they  dragged  in  the  stones  from  the  quarry,  as  at  St.  Denis  and 
St.  Pierre-sur-Dives ;  sometimes  it  was  to  aid  a  bishop,  as 
at  Chartres  and  Rouen.  To  offset  such  irrefutable  evidence 
there  is  not  one  contemporary  reference  to  a  laic,  or  communal 
purpose. 

Also,  when  it  is  asserted  that  the  bishop  helped  the  ca- 
thedrals because  they  were  jealous  of  the  monastic  orders, 
there  is  not  one  historical  record  to  confront  a  host  of  docu- 
ments which  disprove  the  idea.  Large  numbers  of  the  bishop- 
builders  issued  from  monasteries,  founded  monasteries,  and 
returned  to  monasteries  to  die.  While  Maurice  de  Sully 
was  erecting  Notre  Dame,  at  Paris,  he  built  four  monasteries, 
in  one  of  which  he  requested  to  be  buried.  The  bishop  who 
began  Auxerre  Cathedral  chose  Cistercian  Pontigny  for 
his  tomb.  The  bishop  -  builders  of  Noyon,  Laon,  Senlis, 
Soissons,  Rheims,  Bourges,  and  Rouen  were  buried  among 
the  monks.  That  there  should  occasionally  be  friction  between 
a  bishop  and  an  abbot  over  legal  privileges  is  only  charac- 
teristic of  human  nature  in  all  times.  As  a  class  the  bishops 
were  not  opposed  to  the  monks,  nor  the  Orders  to  the  secular 
clergy.  The  monks  of  St.  Remi  honored  the  archbishop  of 
Rheims  in  their  choir  windows. 

The  cloister  welcomed  the  new  architecture.  Transition 
Gothic  churches  were  built  by  the  monks  of  St.  Germain-des- 
Pres  and  St.  Martin-des-Champs  at  Paris,  and  one  could 
prolong  the  list  into  pages.  \Vhere  in  Burgundy  is  found 
the  earliest  Gothic?  In  the  Cistercian  church  of  Pontigny, 
and  in  Benedictine  Vezelay.  Where  in  Champagne? — the 
abbatials  of  Notre  Dame  at  Chalons-sur-Marne  and  St. 
Remi  at  Rheims.  In  Normandy?  In  the  Midi? — again 
the  answer  is,  in  abbey  churches.  Indeed,  monastic  build- 
ing energy  seemed  inexhaustible,  for  where  the  prime  of 

33 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Gothic  arrived,  it  was  still  the  monks  who  produced  that  mas- 
terpiece of  the  new  art,  the  Merveille  of  Mont-Saint-Michel. 

In  the  XII  century  the  spread  of  monastic  life  took  on  a 
phenomenal  aspect.  Benedictine  houses  and  those  of  the 
newly  founded  Orders  of  Citeaux  and  Premontre  increased, 
not  by  hundreds,  but  by  thousands.  The  monks  were  in 
absolute  accord  with  the  spirit  of  their  time.  Sons  of  the 
cloister  had  inspired  the  entire  XI  century:  Gregory  VII, 
Abbot  William  of  Dijon,  St.  Anselm,  Lanfranc,  St.  Hugues 
of  Cluny.  A  bevy  of  remarkable  men  of  the  cloister  led  the 
XII  century,  the  chief  being  Suger  of  St.  Denis,  protector  of 
the  serfs,  the  man  of  genius  who  stimulated  the  bishops  of 
France  to  remake  their  cathedrals  in  emulation  of  his  Gothic 
abbey  church,  and  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  on  whose  words 
all  Europe  hung. 

Architecture  passed  to  laic  control  when  the  protection  of 
monastic  life  was  no  longer  needed  for  artists,  and  when  the 
science  of  building  required  the  specialist,  the  man  occupied 
with  it  alone.  The  schools  of  Cluny  had  trained  the  first 
guildsmen,  and  many  of  the  names  of  Gothic  architects — 
Orbais,  Honnecourt,  Corbie — indicate  that  they  were  born  in 
places  where  monastic  building  industries  flourished.  It  was 
in  the  natural  course  of  events  that  the  art  should  pass  out  of 
the  possession  of  the  few  into  the  general  national  life. 

Another  natural  happening  has  been  distorted  by  partisans. 
The  burning  of  monastery  archives  during  the  XVI-century 
religious  wars  and  by  the  Revolution  is  accountable  for  the 
few  names  of  architects  that  have  come  down  to  us.  The 
scarcity  of  such  names  has  been  cited  as  an  instance  of  the 
jealous  suppression  of  the  laymen  by  the  clergy  forced  to 
employ  them.  Now  precisely  the  contrary  is  the  truth. 
What  modern  architect  was  ever  accorded  such  prominence 
as  was  allowed  by  the  bishops  of  Amiens  and  Rheims  to 
their  masters-of-works  when  they  inscribe  those  laymen 
names  in  the  labyrinth  designs  of  the  cathedral  pavements? 
The  monks  of  Marmoutier  and  of  St.  Germain-des-Pres 
were  proud  to  bury  in  their  abbey-churches  their  architects 

34 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

fitienne  de  Mortagne  and  Pierre  de  Montereau.  In  Rheims, 
the  architects  Hugues  Libergier  and  Robert  de  Coucy  were 
likewise  honored. 

By  digging  in  old  archives,  the  modern  student  is  ever 
adding  new  names  to  the  nation's  honor  roll.  Many  a  gap 
still  remains,  but  the  very  anonymousness  of  such  masters  of 
the  living  stone  is  stuff  for  the  imagination.  One  likes  to 
picture  the  old-time  craftsman-artist  rejoicing  in  his  insignifi- 
cance as  he  chiseled  his  leaf  and  vine  just  as  he  saw  them  by 
the  roadside.  He  served  a  Master  who  gave  like  wages  to 
all  who  worked  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  to  him  who,  in  the 
hidden  corners  where  no  human  eye  could  penetrate,  carved 
his  leaf  and  flower  with  the  same  love  as  did  the  greater 
artist  working  on  the  stately  imaged  portals. 

The  "heretical  Gothic-sculpture  bogey"  has  led  certain 
imaginations  astray.  There  are  those  who  find  latent  heresy 
in  the  old  carvers'  work;  they  point,  with  suggestive  smile, 
to  the  bishop  and  monk  placed  among  the  damned  in  the 
Last  Judgments  at  the  cathedral  doors.  Let  them  turn  to 
the  sermons  of  the  day  and  they  will  find  precisely  the  same 
Christian  doctrine  of  the  equality  of  all  men  before  sin  and 
punishment,  preached  from  the  pulpit  within  the  church. 
Not  in  all  the  myriad  scenes  from  Old  and  New  Testaments 
is  a  single  doctrinal  error  to  be  found,  says  M.  Emile  Male, 
who  is  master  of  the  iconography  of  French  churches.  The 
sculptor  layman  merely  carried  out  the  scheme  of  the  trained 
theologian. 

Many  a  sharp  word  does  M.  Viollet-le-Duc  give  as  critic 
to  those  who  enjoy  in  a  cathedral  the  superficial  beauties  of 
decoration,  but  are  blind  to  the  efficient  structure,  to  the 
scientific  upholding  skeleton.  Surely  it  is  a  still  more  radical 
ignorance  which  perceives  in  a  Gothic  church  its  mechanical 
perfection,  but  denies  the  aspiration  to  immortality  which 
was  its  inceptive  spirit.  To  ascribe  the  origin  of  cathedrals 
to  the  need  by  the  nascent  commune  of  a  town  hall  is  to 
make  of  those  soaring  monuments  veritable  follies  of  human 
pride.  Restore  to  them  their  religious  soul,  have  eyes  to  see 

35 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

what  may  be  called  their  spiritual  framework,  and  as  up-leaps 
toward  the  infinite  they  are  sublimities.  Can  churches  be 
the  creation  of  rebellion  and  hate  when  into  their  very  stones 
passed  the  clamorous  vibrant  faith  of  those  crusading  gener- 
ations? Like  hovering  prayers  their  vaults  seem  to  shut  one 
in.  The  heart,  weary  of  modern  sophistry,  draws  strength 
from  their  eternal  affirmation.  He  must  have  little  music 
in  his  soul  who  is  deaf  to  such  a  Credo.  When  men  built 
Gothic  cathedrals  they  knelt  on  both  knees  to  pray,  and 
never  have  they  soared  more  supremely  above  themselves. 
"Deeds  of  God  through  the  French"  are  these  temples. 

A  word  in  regard  to  the  term  "Gothic."  It  is  as  unreason- 
able a  misnomer  as  could  have  been  chosen,  but  since  usage 
has  sanctioned  it,  it  must  pass.  Primarily  put  into  currency 
by  the  Italians  of  the  Renaissance,  in  the  injurious  sense  of 
barbarous,  the  term  was  adopted  by  the  French  neo-classics 
of  the  XVII  century.  Moliere's  scathing  line  on  Gothic 
sculpture  is  well  known — "Ces  monstres  odieux  des  siecles 
ignorants."  He  complained  that  Gothic  art  "fit  a  la  politesse 
une  mortelle  guerre."  When  Racine  spoke  of  Chartres  Ca- 
thedral he  made  use  of  the  term  barbare;  even  to  the  church- 
man Fenelon  the  cathedrals  of  the  Middle  Ages  appeared 
unreasoned  and  faulty. 

The  opprobrious  term  was  fixed  by  the  Encyclopaedists 
of  the  next  century,  when  prejudice  against  the  Middle  Ages 
became  militant  and  organized.  With  exclusive  pedantism 
they  dismissed  the  most  national  and  civilized  of  arts  as 
worthy  of  those  rough  invaders,  the  Goths.  Voltaire,  who, 
says  Guizot,  garnered  only  what  was  mean  and  criminal  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  saw  in  the  study  of  Gothic  architecture 
"a  coarse  curiosity,  lacking  good  taste."  As  late  as  1800, 
a  project  was  abroad  to  disencumber  the  soil  of  France  of 
"these  overcharged  fagades  with  their  multitude  of  indecent 
and  ridiculous  figures."  And  still  later,  the  students  in  the 
national  school  of  architecture  were  taught  to  despise  the 
most  reasoned,  the  most  robust,  the  most  logical  of  arts  as 
a  style  of  confusion  and  caprice. 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

The  rehabilitation  of  Gothic  architecture  in  France,  if 
tardy,  has  been  ample.  No  branch  of  modern  science  presents 
a  more  able  corps  of  workers.  While  true  to  the  Latin  genius, 
which  unites  clarity  of  style  with  an  exact  erudition,  they 
have  obeyed  a  yet  deeper  race  instinct  which  knows  that 
matter  must  be  vivified  by  spirit,  else  learning  sinks  to  a 
dry-as-dust  recording,  incapable  of  its  highest  flight.  The 
telling  of  the  monumental  story  of  France  has  been  touched 
by  the  sacred  flame  of  patriotism.  Like  paladins,  these 
modern  knights  are  abroad  on  all  the  by-paths  eager  to 
rescue  some  hidden  treasure  of  the  national  art.  Future 
scholarship  will  look  back  at  the  brilliant  achievements  of 
the  French  archaeologists  of  to-day  with  the  same  pride  that 
is  felt  for  the  Benedictine  savants  of  the  XVII  century. 

The  aim  of  archaeology  is  to  date  a  monument  correctly. 
How  to  do  this  by  scientific  method  has  been  taught  the  last 
two  generations  at  the  Ecole  des  Chartes,  the  national  school 
par  excellence,  so  M.  de  Vogue  called  it.  Archives  are  pored 
over  to  trace  each  link  with  history,  and  those  monuments 
which  have  no  authenticated  pedigree  are  compared  with 
those  of  certain  date.  Each  manuscript  date  is  verified  by 
the  analysis  of  the  edifice  itself,  whose  successive  campaigns 
of  building  are  deciphered,  since  few  and  far  between  are  the 
homogeneous  churches.  Each  restoration  also  is  verified. 
One  of  the  solid  bases  for  archaeological  exactness  is  the 
knowledge  of  profiles,  which  are  called  by  the  English  text- 
book rib  molds,  arch  molds,  pier  molds,  or  base  molds.  By 
a  comparative  analysis  of  profiles,  a  monument  can  now  be 
accurately  dated.  As  keystones  were  of  different  types  in 
the  various  earlier  decades  of  Gothic,  they  too  help  to  sub- 
stantiate an  edifice.1 

Churches  of  one  region  are  contrasted  with  those  of  another. 
The  material  employed  is  considered,  since  the  stone  of  a 
province  causes  richness  or  poverty  of  sculpture:  thus, 

1 E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "Le  plan  d'une  monographic  d'eglise  et  le  vocabulaire 
jircheologique,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1910,  p.  379.  He  has  written  on  the  same 
subject  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1906,  vol.  70,  p.  453,  and  1907,  vol.  71,  pp.  136,  351, 535. 

37 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Brittany's  granite  and  Auvergne's  lava  mean  an  undeveloped 
sculpture  compared  with  the  fine  white  limestone  districts 
of  the  Oise,  or  in  Normandy  and  Poitou.  When  practicable, 
excavations  under  an  edifice  can  give  data  concerning  previous 
churches  on  the  site. 

M.  Jules  Quicherat  was  the  first  to  teach  that  the  history 
of  the  Middle  Ages  architecture  was  the  history  of  the  archi- 
tect's fight  against  the  weight  and  push  of  the  vaulting.1 
.Once  the  right  path  was  blazed,  many  an  able  pioneer  helped 
clear  the  new  road — such  students  as  Viollet-le-Duc,  de 
Caumont,  Woillez,  Prosper  Merimee,  de  Dion,  Coutan,  de 
Beaurepaire,  Grandmaison,  Revoil,  Rupricht-Robert,  Felix 
de  Verneilh,  Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  Louis  Courajod,  Buhot  de 
Kersers.  Al  the  Ecole  des  Chartes,  Robert  de  Lasteyrie 
occupied  with  distinction  the  chair  held  by  Quicherat  for 
thirty  years,  and  his  pupils,  Camille  Enlart  and  Eugene 
Lefevre-Pontalis,  in  their  turn,  are  passing  on  the  high  tra- 
dition to  a  younger  school.  M.  Enlart,  the  director  of  the 
museum  of  comparative  sculpture  at  the  Trocadero,  is  an 
authority  on  Romanesque  architecture,  and  has  initiated  the 
study  of  the  spread  of  Gothic  architecture  in  mediaeval  Italy, 
Spain,  the  North,  and  the  Levant.2  M.  Lefevre-Pontalis  has 
written  a  host  of  erudite  monographs;  one  learns  to  accept 
his  decisions  as  final,  in  so  far  as  the  ever-expanding  realm  of 
knowledge  can  be  final.  He  directs  the  invaluable  publications 
called  the  Congres  Archeologique  de  France  and  the  Bulletin 
Monumental,  and  he  edits  those  excellent  short  studies  known 
as  the  P elites  Monographies  des  grands  edifices  de  la  France, 
which  are  convenient  pocket  guides  for  the  serious  tourist.3 


1  Jules  Quicherat,  "La  croisee  d'ogives  et  son  origine,"  in  Melanges  d'archeologie  et 
d'histoire  (1850),  vol.  2,  p.  497. 

z  Camille  Enlart,  Origines  franc,aises  de  I' architecture  gothique  en  Italic  (Paris,  1893); 
ibid.,  Les  origines  de  V architecture  gothique  en  Espagne  et  en  Portugal  (Paris,  1894); 
ibid.,  Notes  archeologiques  sur  les  abbayes  cisterciennes  de  Scandinavie  (Paris,  1894); 
ibid.,  Vittard  de  Honnecourt  et  les  Cisterciens  (Paris,  1895);  ibid.,  L'art  gothique  et 
de  la  Renaissance  en  Chypre  (Paris,  Leroux,  1899),  2  vols.;  Emile  Bertaud,  L'art  dans 
I'ltalie  meridionale  (Paris,  Fontemoing,  1904). 

3  Other  publications  of  value  to  the  student  are  the  Revue  de  I' art  chretien,  Gazette 
des  Beaux-Arts,  Moyen-Age,  I'Archeohgie,  Bibliotheque  de  I'Hcole  des  Chartes,  Revut 

38 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

Each  year  is  producing  final  monographs  on  the  chief 
churches  of  France.  M.  Georges  Durand  has  rendered  fit- 
ting tribute  to  Amiens.  M.  de  Farcy  has  identified  himself 
with  Angers,  Rene  Merlet  with  Chartres,  Lucien  Broche 
with  Laon,  and  Lucien  Begule  with  Lyons.  MM.  Brutails 
has  specialized  on  Gascony,  the  Thollier  and  H.  du  Ranquet 
on  Auvergne,  Labande  on  Provence,  Berthele  on  Plantagenet 
Gothic,  Andre  Rhein  on  Poitou  and  Anjou,  Emile  Bonnet  on 
Herault,  Charles  Poree  on  Burgundy,  and  Louis  Demaison  on 
Champagne.  Other  able  students  are  MM.  Bouet,  Louis 
Serbat,  Marcel  Aubert,  Ernest  Rupin,  Jules  de  Lahondes,  Rene 
Fage,  Amedee  Boinet,  Jean  Virey,  Robert  Triger,  and  Louis 
Regnier. 

Precious  texts  have  been  unearthed  from  the  archives  by 
Victor  Mortet,  Henri  Stein,  and  Eugene  Miintz.  The  sculpture 
of  France  has  been  studied  by  MM.  Robert  de  Lasteyrie, 
Emile  Lambin,  Leon  Palustre,  Eugene  Miintz,  Gabriel  Fleury, 
Raymond  Koechlin,  J.  M.  de  Vasselot,  Paul  Vitry,  Gaston 
Briere,  Andre  Michel,  Louis  Gonse,  and  Emile  Male.  The 
latter  three  have  brought  out  monumental  general  works. 
L'art  gothique  of  Gonse  gives  the  most  exact  and  extended 
account  of  the  beginning  of  Gothic,  says  Anthyme  Saint-Paul, 
who  is  himself  one  of  the  most  inspiring  masters  of  mediaeval 
archaeology.  M.  Michel,  who  is  conservator  of  the  national 
museums,  has  edited  the  superb  Histoire  de  I'art,  to  which 
leading  French  scholars  have  contributed.1  And  the  ico- 
nography of  French  cathedrals  has  received  no  more  magistral 
treatment  than  from  M.  Male,  to  whom  is  due  the  credit  of 
establishing  the  scholastic  character  of  Gothic  imagery.2 
His  path  was  cleared  by  pioneers  such  as  Didron,  Crosnier, 
Martin,  and  Duchesne. 

arckeologique,  and  the  Didron's  Annales  archeologique.  There  are  H.  Havard's  La 
France  artistique  el  monumental,  Viollet-le-Duc's  Dictionnaire  de  V architecture  frangaise, 
Joanne's  Dictionnaire  de  la  France.  The  regional  and  local  monographs  will  be 
given  here  with  each  school  of  Gothic  and  each  cathedral  as  it  is  described. 

1  Andre  Michel  (Publiee  sous  la  direction  de),  Histoire  de  I'art  depuis  les  premiers 
temps  Chretiens  (Paris,  A.  Colin,  1906),  10  vols. 

2  fimile  Male,  L'art  religieux  du  XIIIs  siecle  en  France  (Paris,  Colin,  1908),  4to; 
ibid.,  L'art  religieux  de  la  fin  du  moyen  age  en  France  (Paris,  Colin,  1910),  4to. 

39 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Happily  for  the  local  schools,  a  bevy  of  intelligent  church- 
men have  devoted  themselves  to  their  regional  monuments. 
I  hope  I  may  be  pardoned  if  I  do  not  name  each  with  his  ec- 
clesiastical designation,  but  cite  them  here  simply  as  savants: 
the  Abbes  Eugene  Mliller  (Senlis);  Bourasse  and  Bosseboeuf 
(Touraine) ;  Ledru  (Le  Mans) ;  Auber,  De  la  Croix,  and  Mgr. 
Barbier  de  Montault  (Poitiers);  Chomton  (Dijon);  Bulteau 
(Chartres);  Abgrall  (Brittany);  Maurin  (Aix-en-Provence) ; 
Bouvier  (Sens);  Cerf  (Rheims);  Bouxin  (Laon);  and  for 
the  Norman  churches,  the  Abbes  Fossey,  Poree,  Loisel,  and 
Pigeon. 

The  list  might  be  greatly  extended.  One  can  cite  only  a 
few.  From  the  pages  of  such  students  have  been  written  these 
chapters,  by  one  who  has  felt  that  there  must  be  many 
travelers  who  love  the  old  cathedrals  of  Europe  and  have 
wandered  among  them  puzzled  by  half-understood  things, 
longing  to  know  with  exactitude  how  and  when  they  were 
built.  So  it  has  not  seemed  a  useless  task  to  gather  into  these 
ten  chapters  what  the  French  scholars  are  relating  of  their 
churches.  So  swiftly  do  archaeological  discoveries  follow 
one  another  to-day,  that  statements  accepted  now  may  be 
obsolete  to-morrow.  The  makers  of  history  and  art  books 
can  hope  to  serve  only  their  hour. 

The  new  school  of  Christian  archaeology  is  redeeming  the 
misrepresented  centuries  after  the  year  1000.  It  is  undoing 
the  systematic  falsification  of  history,  and  is  teaching  us  to 
read  the  past  other  than  by  the  printed  page.  Not  hate,  but 
love,  opens  new  windows  in  the  soul.  The  study  of  the  ch  urches 
of  France  adds  flesh  and  blood  to  many  a  mere  name  in 
history.  One  gains  a  very  special  liking  for  little  Abbot 
Suger,  most  dependable  of  men,  whose  life  was  a  succession 
of  big  undertakings.  One  feels  reverent  affection  for  that 
sentinel  of  the  Church  and  its  guide,  Bernard  of  Clairvaux, 
who  said  some  harsh  things  of  fine  churches,  all  the  while 
that  he  was  feeding  the  mystic  life  that  made  them  inevitable. 
And  very  real  become  the  bishop  builders  when  one  knows 
their  cathedrals.  One  pores  over  the  old  volumes  of  the 

40 


WHAT  IS  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE? 

Histoire  Liitiraire  de  la  France,  begun  by  XVII-century 
Benedictines,  and  still  being  continued  by  the  Institute  of 
France,  to  gather  details  of  good  Bishop  Fulbert  and  doughty 
St.  Ives,  who  built  at  Chartres;  of  that  distinguished  literary 
man,  Bishop  Hildebert  de  Lavardin,  who  worked  at  Le  Mans; 
of  the  well-poised  Bishop  Maurice  de  Sully,  who  raised  Notre 
Dame  at  Paris;  of  crusading  prelates  such  as  Alberic  de 
Humbert,  who  began  Rheims;  and  of  Nivelon  de  Cherisy,  who 
built  Soissons,  and  who,  on  the  Fourth  Crusade,  played  a  fore- 
most role.  One  grows  to  love,  above  all,  the  saint-king,  Louis, 
truest  hero  of  la  douce  France,  who  illuminated  his  kingdom 
with  fair  churches.  And  no  one  can  admire  St.  Louis  and 
not  keep  a  warm  corner  in  his  heart  for  Joinville,  his  comrade- 
in-arms,  the  irresistible  seneschal  of  Champagne. 

Crusades  and  chivalry  and  all  the  multicolored  aspects  of 
the  XII  and  XIII  centuries  become  clearer  to  the  imagination 
as  one  traces  the  story  of  the  cathedrals  of  France;  scho- 
lasticism and  the  early  days  of  the  schools,  when  Abelard 
sparred  with  Guillaume  de  Champeaux.  Very  real  they 
all  become:  Peter  the  Venerable,  good  Stephen  Harding,  St. 
Thomas  Becket,  John  of  Salisbury,  St.  Edmund  Rich,  Stephen 
Langton,  St.  Dominic,  St.  Malachy  O'Morgair,  Innocent  III, 
St.  Bonaventure,  and  St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  France  welcomed 
them  all  during  the  two  vital  centuries  when  she  imposed 
her  literature  as  well  as  her  architecture  on  western  Europe, 
when  the  Paris  schools  were  the  intellectual  center  of  the 
world. 

To  point  a  rose-colored  picture  of  the  two  best  centuries 
of  the  Middle  Ages  would  be  absurd.  They  were  full  of  very 
evil  things.  There  were  horrifying  episodes  in  them.  "Barba- 
rism tempered  by  religion;  religion  disfigured  by  barbarism," 
is  the  definition  of  Balmes,  the  theologian.  The  inconsistencies 
were  gigantic.  The  same  men  who  sacked  Constantinople  in 
1204,  dealing  art  a  staggering  blow,  were  the  very  men  who 
in  western  Europe  were  building  cathedrals.  Then,  as  now, 
there  were  many  for  whom  religion  served  as  a  convenient 
cloak  for  the  lower  instincts;  then,  as  now,  there  were  many 

41 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

who  never  lost  sight  of  the  higher  ideals.  Side  by  side  with 
the  evil  and  the  self-seeking  should  be  set  the  sublime  impulses 
which  checked  those  untutored  generations.  Do  not  hide 
the  merciless  laying  waste  of  Languedoc  by  the  north,  but 
do  not  forget  that,  in  the  same  hour,  men  had  reached  an 
abnegation  of  self  that  led  them  to  the  African  coast  as 
voluntary  substitutes  for  their  brother  Christians  in  bondage 
there. 

In  the  midst  of  its  human  infirmities  it  was  an  age  that 
aspired:  its  poets  sang  of  the  Holy  Grail,  its  kings  and  its 
serfs  were  saints,  there  were  saint  scholars  and  barons  and 
merchants,  there  was  even  a  saint  lawyer. 

It  is  precisely  the  restored  balance  between  good  and  evil 
which  the  study  of  Gothic  art  is  bringing  about.  The  partisan 
may  go  on  compiling  a  police  gazette  and  call  it  history.1 
While  the  towers  of  Gothic  churches  point  upward,  he  is 
refuted.  The  modern  mind  has  once  for  all  grasped  that 
it  is  psychologically  impossible  for  an  age  to  have  been  sunk 
in  blind  superstition  when  it  could  build,  not  merely  one  or 
two,  but  hundreds  of  churches  whose  every  line  is  an  aspiration 
toward  sanctity.  The  cathedrals  are  the  true  apologetics  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  Archaeology  is  again  proving  its  claim  to 
be  the  soul  of  history. 

1  "II  en  est  parmi  nous  qui  preferent  la  victoire  de  leur  parti  a  la  victoire  de  la  patrie. 
Ecrire  1'histoire  de  France  etait  une  facpn  de  travailler  pour  un  parti  et  de  combattre  un 
adversaire.  Pour  beaucoup  de  Francais  etre  patriote,  c'est  etre  ennemi  de  1'ancienne 
France.  Cette  sorte  de  patriotisme  au  lieu  de  nous  unier  centre  1'etranger  nous  pousse 
tout  droit  a  la  guerre  civile." — FUSTEL  DE  COULANGES. 


CHAPTER  II 

Abbot  Suger  and  St.  Denis-en-France 

Under  the  impulse  of  this  monk,  truly  great  in  all  things,  Gothic 
architecture  was  born. — FELIX  DE  VERNEILH   (of  Abbot  Suger). 

HE  churches  built  during  the  evolution  from 
Romanesque  to  Gothic  have  been  called  tran- 
sitional, a  classification  which  would  be  most 
convenient  for  the  amateur,  had  not  archaeol- 
ogists decided  it  was  an  equivocal  term.  They 
say  that,  during  the  short  period  when  "Romanesque  and 
Gothic  inhabited  under  the  same  roof,"  the  Romanesque  parts 
of  the  edifice  were  placed  side  by  side  with  the  simultaneously 
built  Gothic  parts,  that  there  was  juxtaposition,  but  no  fusion. 
Vaults  were  either  barrel,  groin,  or  of  the  diagonal-rib  type; 
there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  transition  form  of  vault.  Arches 
were  either  round  or  pointed;  there  was  no  such  thing  as  a 
transition  or  intermediary  form  of  arch.  And  since  the  radical 
distinction  between  Romanesque  and  Gothic  is  caused  by  the 
vaulting,  it  is  correct  to  call  that  part  of  a  church  where  was 
groin  or  barrel  vault  Romanesque,  and  that  part  where  were 
used  the  intersecting  ribs  Gothic. 

The  sequence  of  the  passing  from  Romanesque  to  Gothic  is 
obscure,  because  there  is  a  lack  of  definite  dates.  From 
1110  to  1140,  while  the  intersecting  ribs  were  coming  into 
use  in  northern  France,  such  a  vault  was  practically  the 
only  sign  in  an  edifice  of  the  new  movement.  The  walls 
still  were  massive,  the  windows  still  were  small  and  round- 
arched,  the  sculpture  still  was  coarse  and  heavy.  Then, 
as  the  transition  advanced,  the  supports  grew  lighter,  the 
profiles  (those  cross-section  outlines  of  ribs,  arches,  capitals, 
and  bases)  grew  purer,  and  the  sculpture  discarded  Byzantine 
traditions  and  took  nature  as  its  model. 

43 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

French  archaeologists  have  thought  that  the  use  of  diagonals 
came  about  first  through  the  desire  to  hold  up  some  groin 
vault,  on  the  point  of  collapsing,  which  would  seem  a  very 
sensible  explanation,  since  the  creative  genius  of  the  Ile-de- 
France  seems  dimly  to  have  apprehended  even  iri  the  first 
hour  the  stupendous  possibility  to  be  drawn  from  a  member 
whose  purpose  was  to  concentrate  force  in  order  that  other 
parts  of  the  edifice  might  be  relieved.  From  the  initial  hour 
began  the  evolution  of  the  cardinal  organ  in  the  Ile-de-France. 
Whereas  the  Lombard  architects  looked  on  the  diagonals 
as  a  mere  contrivance,  stubbornly  keeping  their  eyes  shut 
to  the  structural  possibilities  latent  therein.  The  masons 
of  the  Ile-de-France  at  once  began  to  profile  their  diagonals 
graciously,  and  even  before  the  genius  of  Suger  had  co- 
ordinated, at  St.  Denis,  all  the  foregoing  progress  of  the 
nascent  art,  craftsmen  had  occasionally  symbolized,  as  it 
were,  the  importance  of  the  intersecting  ribs  by  carving  little 
caryatids  for  them  to  rest  upon  above  the  capitals;  such 
figurines  are  to  be  seen  in  the  Oise  region  at  Bury  and  at 
Cambronne.1 

Mr.  Arthur  Kingsley  Porter's  idea  is  that  the  transitional 
period  resolves  itself  into  a  series  of  experiments  on  the  part 
of  the  builders  to  erect  a  vault  with  a  minimum  of  centering, 
and  he  cites  the  hollow  spires  at  Loches  as  an  experiment 
to  put  up  a  stone  roof  without  the  use  of  any  temporary  sub- 
structure of  wood,  which  apparently  was  costly.2  He  thinks 
that  the  earlier  Gothic  vaults  were  bombe  because  that  form 
facilitated  construction  without  centering,  and  that  the 
Lombards  dropped  their  precocious  diagonals  after  1120,  as 
soon  as  they  had  learned  how  to  build  domed  groin  vaults 
which  required  no  temporary  wooden  substructures.  WTiat 
is  of  value  in  Mr.  Porter's  thesis  is  sure,  in  time,  to  pass  into 
French  currency;  until  a  majority  of  French  archaeologists 
find  his  explanation  better  than  their  own  it  is  permissible 

1  Congrts  Archtologique,  1905,  p.  39,  on  Bury  (Oise),  and  p.  43,  on  Cambronne  (Oise). 
1  Arthur  Kingsley  Porter,  The  Construction  of  Lombard  and  Gothic   Vaults   (New 
Haven,  Yale  University  Press,  1911). 

44 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND  ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

for  us  to  agree  with  those  who  are  telling  the  tale  of  their 
own  national  art. 

Probably  the  earliest  extant  Gothic  vaults  in  the  Ile-de- 
France  are  those  at  Acy-en-Multien  (Oise)  and  at  Crouy-sur- 
Ourcq  (Seine-et-Marne).  Their  outline  is  rectangular.  Some 
intersecting  ribs  at  Rhuis  (Oise)  are  cited  by  M.  Lefevre- 
Pontalis  as  the  oldest  in  the  Soissonnais.  Diagonals  were  put 
up,  about  1115,  at  St.  Vaast-de-Longmont  (Oise),  Orgeval 
(Seine-et-Oise),  Viffort  (Aisne),  Airaines  (Somme),  and  in 
other  rural  churches.  The  famous  ambulatory  vaults  at 
Morienval  were  probably  built  about  1122.  A  year  or  two 
earlier,  perhaps,  are  the  side-aisle  vaults  of  St.  Etienne  at 
Beauvais. 

Bury  (Oise)  shows  the  first  extant  half  dome  with  ribs. 
Of  the  same  time,  about  1125,  are  the  diagonals  at  Marolles, 
St.  Vaast-les-Mello,  Bethisy-St.-Pierre,  Bonneuil-en-Valois, 
and  Belief ontaine,  all  in  the  Oise  department.  Belief ontaine, 
whose  date  of  1125  is  certain,  has  helped  to  place  other 
churches  of  the  transition  by  comparing  their  diagonals 
with  its  pointed  intersecting  ribs.  Bruyeres  (Aisne)  is  about 
1130,  Poissy  (Seine-et-Oise)  and  Villetertre  (Oise)  are  about 
1135,  and  so  are  the  ribs  of  St.  Martin-des-Champs  at  Paris. 
In  the  Aisne  region  are  Berzy-le-Sec  and  Laffaux  (c.  1140) 
and  in  the  Oise  region  is  Chelles,  building  at  the  hour  when 
Suger  undertook  St.  Denis  (Seine),  1140  to  1144.  Cam- 
bronne  (Oise)  and  Foy-St.-Quentin  (Somme)  are  about 
1145.  Such  churches  as  Glennes  (Aisne),  St.  Leu  d'Esserent 
(Oise),  and,  close  to  the  latter,  Creuil's  church  of  St.  Evre- 
mont  were  building  in  1150;  so  were  Chars  (Seine-et-Oise) 
and,  near  it,  Pontoise,1  whose  ambulatory  vaults  some  claim 
are  prior  to  those  of  the  procession  path  of  St.  Denis,  and 
therefore  a  link  between  Morienval  and  Suger 's  abbatial. 

1  In  each  vault  section  of  the  ambulatory  of  St.  Maclou,  Pontoise,  was  inserted  a 
fifth  rib,  which  sprang  from  the  keystone  to  the  middle  of  each  apse  chapel's  rear  wall, 
and  which  consolidated  both  chapel  and  procession  path.  The  diagonals  do  not  curve, 
as  do  those  of  Morienval.  St.  Maclou  was  entirely  finished  in  the  XII  century, 
but  it  was  reconstructed  radically  in  the  XV  century:  the  present  facade  is  1450-70. 
Again  in  the  XVI  century  the  church  was  partly  rebuilt,  so  that  the  double-aisled  nave 

45 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  big  church  at  St.  Germer  (Oise)  was  begun  about  1150, 
though  certain  of  its  features  are  more  archaic  than  St.  Denis, 
built  before  it.  Some  of  these  churches,  called  transitional, 
used  wall  ribs  for  their  diagonals,  others  omitted  them;  in 
some  the  intersecting  ribs  were  pointed,  in  others,  semi- 
circular. 

Mr.  John  Bilson,  who  contends  that  diagonals  were  used 
in  Normandy  some  twenty-five  years  earlier  than  in  the 
Ile-de-France,  considers  the  early  dates  for  these  rural  churches 
improbable,  that  scarcely  any  were  anterior  to  St.  Denis, 
that  it  was  a  case  of  little  churches  following  the  great  churches, 
not  vice  versa.  The  earliest,  he  thinks,  was  St.  Etienne  at 
Beauvais  (c.  1120),  significantly  close  to  Normandy.  But 
Normandy  did  not  suspect  the  value  and  fecundity  of  diag- 
onals. That  feat  of  creative  genius  none  can  deny  to  the 
Ile-de-France. 

The  traveler  can  do  nothing  more  enlightening  and  de- 
lightful as  a  prelude  to  his  journey  among  French  cathedrals 
than  to  spend  some  early  spring  days  exploring  the  rural 
churches  of  the  privileged  land  of  the  national  art  which 
the  old  geographers  cuose  to  picture  as  an  island  inclosed  by 
the  Seine,  the  Marne,  the  Aisne,  and  the  Oise.  Numerous 
churches  of  the  transition  lie  between  Soissons,  Senlis,  and 
Beauvais,  and  once,  around  Amiens  was  another  such  center, 
but  few  of  the  monuments  there  have  survived.1  Go  to  Creuil 
and  see,  in  the  ruins  of  St.  Elvremont,  a  rudimentary  flying 
buttress — a  quarter  arch  once  hidden  under  the  lean-to  roof. 
No  doubt  the  architect  built  it  with  the  intention  of  bracing 
the  upper  walls,  but  since  he  omitted  to  brace  the  flying 
buttress  itself  it  failed  of  its  purpose.  Four  miles  away,  at 
St.  Leu  d'Esserent,  is  an  awkward  early  trial  of  a  Gothic 
vault  in  the  tribune  above  the  porch,  but  as  the  ribs  are  em- 
bedded in  the  cells,  no  proper  elasticity  is  achieved.  Go  to 

of  to-day  appears  a  beautiful  example  of  Renaissance  art.  It  was  at  Pontoise  that 
St.  Louis,  in  1244,  took  the  vow  to  go  crusading.  (See,  Lefevre-Pontalis,  Monographic 
de  1'eglise  St.  Maclou  de  Pontoise.) 

1  Arthur  Kingsley  Porter,  Medieval  Architecture  (New  York  and  London,  1909). 
In  vol.  2,  pp.  193-251,  is  a  full  list  of  monuments  of  the  transition. 

46 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND  ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

Morienval  and  study*  its  remarkable  essay  in  spanning  a 
curving  section  with  diagonals.  Trace  these  early  steps  of 
the  national  art,  and  the  meaning  of  the  Gothic  bone  structure 
grows  plainer. 

MORIENVAL  i 

I  approve  the  life  of  those  for  whom  the  city  is  a  prison,  who  find  paradise 
in  solitude,  who  live  by  the  works  of  their  hands,  or  who  seek  to  remake 
their  spirit  by  the  sweetness  of  their  contemplative  life,  who  drink  of  the 
fountain  of  life  by  the  lips  of  their  heart,  and  forget  what  is  behind  them 
to  regard  only  what  lies  ahead.  But  neither  the  most  hidden  forest  nor  the 
highest  mountains  will  give  happiness  to  man,  if  he  has  not  in  himself 
solitude  of  the  spirit,  peace  of  conscience,  upliftings  of  the  heart  to  God. — 
Letter  of  ST.  IVES,  Bishop  of  Chartres,  1091-1115. 

Of  the  experimental  steps  which  led  to  Gothic  art,  the 
most  appealing  is  the  nunnery  church  of  Morienval,  a  humble 
forerunner  of  Amiens  Cathedral  that  has  made  as  much 
stir  in  archaeological  controversy  as  Perigueux's  cathedral  of 
St.  Front  itself.  Morienval  may  not  be  the  passionately 
sought  oeuvre-initiale,  since  its  vaults,  while  they  betray  in- 
experience, certainly  were  preceded  by  still  cruder  attempts, 
but  it  can  boast  that  it  is  the  first  Gothic  ambulatory  extant, 
and  as  the  curving  aisle  around  the  chancel  is  the  most  ex- 
quisite feature  of  the  great  cathedrals,  Morienval's  humble 
first  essay  of  it  merits  a  pilgrimage. 

As  one  approaches  the  abbey  church  it  does  not  appear 
till  one  is  directly  over  it,  so  snugly  hidden  away  is  the  village 
in  a  fold  of  the  rolling  country  that  skirts  the  forest  of  Com- 
piegne.  Perhaps  the  IX-century  nuns  who  chose  the  site 
may  have  hoped  that  the  marauders  of  that  troublous  time 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1905,  p.  154,  on  Morienval;  ibid.,  1908,  vol.  2,  pp.  128, 
476,  on  Morienval,  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  Brutails,  and  John  Bilson;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis, 
L' architecture  religieuse  dans  Vancien  diocese  de  Soissons  au  XI'  et  au  XIIe  siecle 
(Paris,  Plon,  1894-97),  2  vols.,  folio.  Also,  his  discussion  on  the  vaults  of  Morienval 
in  Bulletin  Monumental,  vol.  71,  pp.  160,  335;  1908,  vol.  72,  p.  477;  and  in  Cor- 
respondence historique  et  archeologique,  1897,  pp.  193,  197;  Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  "La 
transition,"  in  Revue  de  1'art  chretien,  1895,  p.  13.  Also,  his  studies  of  Morienval  in 
Memoires  de  la  Soc.  archeol.  de  Pontoise  .  .  .,  1894,  vol.  16;  Memoires  du  Comite 
archeol.  de  Senlis,  1892,  vol.  7;  Correspondance  hisiorique  et  archeologique,  1897,  pp. 
129,  161;  John  Bilson,  on  Morienval,  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1908,  vol.  72,  p.  498; 
and  Congres  Archeologique,  1905;  L.  Regnier,  in  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  archeol.  de 
Pontoise  .  .  .,  1895,  p.  124. 
4  47 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

might  ride  by,  unconscious  of  booty  so  close  at  hand.  With 
gratitude  one  learns  that  the  invasion  of  1914  has  left  Morienval 
unscathed,  as  well  as  those  other  memorials  of  tentative 
Gothic,  Acy-en-Multien  and  Crouy-sur-Ourcq. 

Because  of  excellent  proportions,  the  church  appears  larger 
than  in  reality.  The  exterior  is  Romanesque.  Two  time- 
stained  towers  of  the  XI  century  mark  the  angles  between 
transept  and  choir,  an  arrangement  derived  from  Rhenish 
churches.  At  the  west  facade  is  a  beautiful  XH-century 
tower.  It  was  building  while  the  nuns  were  proceeding  to 
tear  down  a  decrepit  apse  in  order  to  erect  the  present  east 
end  of  the  church.  In  that  new  apse  appeared  the  much- 
discussed  early  ribs. 

A  record  tells  that  relics  were  installed  in  the  church  in 
1122,  and  it  was  probably  then  that  the  new  works  were 
finished.  Ambulatories  had  come  into  favor  during  the 
first  third  of  the  XII  century,  when  need  was  felt  for  a  suitable 
corridor  for  pilgrims  to  encircle  the  altar  whereon  relics  were 
exposed.  Now  to  vault  a  curving  aisle  was  no  easy  task, 
owing  to  the  trapeze  shape  of  each  section.  Morienval's 
ambulatory  must  have  been  designed  to  hold  extra  altars, 
since  entrance  to  the  aisle  is  blocked  at  both  ends  by  the 
towers,  and  the  passage  is  so  narrow  that  only  one  at  a  time 
can  walk  in  it.  There  are  no  apse  chapels.  The  sculpture 
is  archaic.  Some  of  the  capitals  show  interlacings,  and  some 
are  of  the  pleated  type  popular  in  Normandy.  The  diminu- 
tive corridor  has  four  small  bays  whose  clumsy  intersecting 
vault  ribs  are  of  the  size  of  the  average  stovepipe.  They 
curve  strangely,  and  two  of  the  keystones  are  not  in  the 
axis  of  the  passageway,  nor  has  elasticity  yet  been  wholly 
achieved,  since  the  ends  of  the  ribs  plunge  into  the  web  of 
the  vault. 

Over  the  choir,  consisting  of  one  large  bay,  are  intersecting 
ribs  that  appear  to  be  posterior  to  those  of  the  ambulatory. 
They,  too,  are  rude  and  large,  but  are  wholly  detached  from 
the  cells.  M.  Lefevre-Pontalis  thinks  that  the  ambulatory 
diagonals  are  contemporary,  and  owe  their  more  archaic 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND   ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

character  to  the  difficulty  of  vaulting  a  curved  passage.  So 
swiftly  did  the  early  architects  acquire  skill  in  the  new  system 
of  building,  that  when  a  chapel  was  erected  on  the  northern 
arm  of  Morienval's  transept,  at  the  end  of  the  XII  century, 
each  diagonal  had  become  a  single  slender  torus,  virile  and 
graceful. 

Of  less  architectural  importance  is  the  Romanesque  nave 
of  Morienval,  whose  meager  vault  ribs  are  of  the  XVII 
century.  The  western  tower  was  the  prototype  of  the  Ro- 
manesque belfries  of  the  region  and  should  be  preserved.  It 
is  in  a  deplorable  state,  propped  by  beams,  which  are  gayly 
scaled  by  the  lads  who  ring  the  Angelus.  Little  Morienval  has 
the  human  touch  which  the  traveler  craves.  Set  in  the  wall 
above  the  XHI-century  lord  of  Viri's  tomb  are  tablets  that 
commemorate  two  pastors  of  this  isolated  Valois  village 
who  were  heroes  as  valiant  as  any  crusader.  Their  combined 
ministry  covered  a  hundred  and  one  years.  The  first  died 
in  1840,  after  fifty-seven  years  of  service  here,  "faithful  to 
his  duty  in  times  most  difficult,"  and  difficult  indeed  was  a 
priest's  life  during  the  Revolution.  "Pray  for  his  soul," 
begs  his  grateful  commune,  to  which  he  had  bequeathed  the 
presbytery  and  all  his  savings. 

His  successor  came  to  Morienval  in  his  'twenties,  fresh 
from  Paris,  his  birthplace,  and  on  this  dwindling  village  he 
expended  his  energies  for  forty-five  years.  Abbe  Riaux 
loved  his  parishioners  like  a  father,  and  was,  says  the  memorial 
tablet,  "physician  for  body  as  well  as  soul."  During  the 
cholera  of  1849  his  self-denial  elicited  a  gold  medal  from 
Morienval  and  the  village  of  Bonneuil,  where  is  another 
primitive  essay  of  a  Gothic  vault.  "The  state  of  decay  of 
his  beautiful  church  made  him  suffer,"  runs  the  inscription, 
so  he  willed  his  modest  fortune  toward  its  restoration.  Happily, 
he  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  church  he  loved  become  a 
savant's  shrine.  It  was  in  1880  that  M.  Robert  de  Lasteyrie 
first  drew  attention  to  Morienval  as  an  early  step  in  the 
tardily  understood  national  art,  and  MM.  Anthyme  Saint- 
Paul,  Eugene  Lefevre-Pontalis,  and  Camille  Enlart  joined 

49 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

in  the  debate.  The  archaeologists'  war  horse  they  have 
called  our  little  Morienval.  Such  widespread  discussion  and 
the  good  priest's  bequest  fortunately  brought  about  a  thorough 
restoration  of  the  choir. 

ST.  ETIENNE  AT  BEAUVAIS,  AND  ST.  GERMED 

Sous  le  porche  de  l'£glise,  chacun  laisse  le  fardeau  que  la  vie  lui  impose. 
Ici  le  plus  pauvre  homine  s'616ve  au  rang  des  grands  intellectuels,  des  poetes, 
que  dis-je?  au  rang  des  esprits:  il  s'installe  dans  le  domaine  de  la  pens6e  pure 
et  du  reve.  Le  g6missement  d'une  vieille  femme  agenouill^e  dans  l'6glise  de 
son  village  est  du  me  me  accent,  traduit  la  mcme  ignorance,  le  meme  pressenti- 
ment  que  la  meditation  du  savant.  .  .  .  De  ces  parties  profondes  de  1'etre, 
de  ce  domaine  obscur  surgissent  toutes  les  puissances  cr£atrices  de  l'homme. 

— MAURICE  BARRES.* 

Close  in  date  to  Morienval  are  the  aisle  vaults  of  St. 
Etienne's  nave  at  Beauvais,  the  old  city  that  lies  on  a  tribu- 
tary of  the  Oise.  The  intersecting  ribs  are  not  quite  so  stout 
as  those  of  Morienval,  but  their  ends  still  plunge  into  the 
massive,  and  they,  too,  are  round-arched;  their  date  is  approxi- 
mately 1120.  That  they  planned  at  the  same  time  to  throw 
similar  diagonals  over  the  principal  span  is  proved  by  the 
existent  lower  structures,  but  the  actual  vaults  there  were 
not  erected  till  after  a  fire  in  1180.  The  transverse  arches 
of  the  aisles  are  noticeably  stilted.  This  device  was  to  lead 
to  a  solution  of  the  problem  how  to  raise  the  arches  fram- 
ing each  vault  section  to  the  level  of  the  diagonals'  crown, 
and  thus  avoid  the  excessive  doming  which  is  found  in  the 
earlier  Gothic  vaults. 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1905, "St.Etienne,  at  Beauvais,"  pp.  15,  530;  Viollet-le-Duc, 
Dictionnaire,  vol.  3,  pp.  254,  263;   vol.  4,  p.  289;   vol.  7,  p.  133;   Stanislas  de  Saint- 
Germain,  Notice  historique  et  descriptive  de  I'eglise  St.  Etienne  de  Beauvais;    Victor 
Lhuillier,  St.  Etienne  de  Beauvais;   P.  C.  Barraud,  "Les  vitraux  de  St.  Etienne  de 
Beauvais,"  in  Soc.  Academique  d'archeologie,  department  de  I'Oise,  vol.  2,  p.  507;  Congres 
Archeologique,  1905,  p.  81,  "St.  Germer,"  L.  Regnier;    and  p.  406,  "St.  Germer," 
A.  Besnard;   E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "L'eglise  de  St.  Germer,"  in  I'Annuaire  Normand, 
1903,  p.  134;    and  Bibliotheque  de  I'Ecole  des  chartes,  1885  and  1889;    also  Bulletin 
Monumental,   1886;    A.   Besnard,  L'eglise    de    St.  Germer   de   Fly   (Oise),  (Paris,  E. 
Lechavalier,  1913);  Paul  des  Forts,  "Une  excursion  en  Beauvaisis,"  in  Bulletin  de  la 
SocietS  d'emulation  d"  Abbeville,   1903;    Eugene  Woillez,   Archeologie  des  monuments 
rdigieux  de  Vancien  Beauvoisis. 

2  Maurice  Barres,  La  grande  pitie  des  cgliscs  de  France  (Paris,  Emile-Paul,  freres, 
1914). 

50 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND  ST.  DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

In  the  Xll-century  north  fagade  of  the  transept  is  an 
oculus  big  enough  to  be  called  the  first  rose  window;  a  wheel 
of  fortune  it  is  called,  because  the  images  around  its  circle 
are  an  allegory  of  the  fleet  passing  of  man's  greatness.  This 
is  one  of  the  very  early  approaches  to  pure  sculpture.  The 
nave's  two  westernmost  bays  and  its  fagade  are  of  the  XI 
century.  Had  the  original  choir  of  St.  Etienne  survived,  it 
is  thought  that  its  ambulatory  would  be  one  of  the  missing 
steps  connecting  the  cramped  corridor  of  Morienval  with  the 
double  procession  path  of  St.  Denis.  The  present  choir,  a 
Flamboyant  Gothic  structure,  is  famous  for  its  gloriously 
colored  windows,  some  of  which  were  made  by  that  notable 
family  of  local  artists  who  designed  the  big  rose  windows  of 
Beauvais  Cathedral,  Engrand  Le  Prince  and  his  sons  Jean 
and  Nicolas,  and  his  son-in-law  Nicolas  Le  Pot.  The  latter 
carved  the  cathedral's  wooden  doors,  for  versatility  was 
characteristic  of  the  artisan-artists  of  those  days. 

Ten  miles  from  Beauvais,  a  crawling  train  sets  one  down 
in  a  field  whence  a  two-mile  walk  leads  to  the  sleepy  bourg 
of  St.  Germer-en-Flay.  The  abbey  was  founded  in  655  by 
Germer,  a  noble  of  Dagobert's  court,  nephew  of  St.  Ouen 
the  great  bishop  of  Normandy's  capital.  To  St.  Germer's 
abbey  came  William  the  Conqueror  to  beg  the  French  king 
to  join  him  in  his  proposed  descent  on  England.  But  Philip 
I  gathered  his  counselors,  and  it  was  decided  not  to  support 
the  Norman  duke,  since,  if  he  gained  England,  he  would  be 
richer  than  his  own  suzerain,  the  king  of  France,  and  if  he 
failed,  France  would  have  antagonized  the  English. 

The  large  abbatial  church  of  St.  Germer,  if  not  beautiful, 
is  of  archaeological  interest.  Formerly  it  was  thought  to  be 
a  monument  of  1130,  but  closer  study  has  shown  that  it  was 
erected  during  one  bout  of  work  from  1150  to  1180.  Hard 
though  it  was  to  believe  it  the  contemporary  of  the  cathedrals 
at  Senlis  and  Noyon,  its  sculpture  is  too  excellent  to  have 
been  done  earlier.  The  crocketed  capitals  of  its  westernmost 
bays  were  never  made  earlier  than  1175.  That  the  church 
was  continued  without  pause  from  apse  to  fagade  is  proved 

51 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

by  the  unity  of  profiles  and  details.  Its  anachronisms  are  to 
be  explained  because  it  derived  from  a  side  current  of  Gothic 
art,  out  of  touch  with  the  swift-moving  main  stream,  which 
was  channeled  by  Abbot  Suger. 

The  architect  of  St.  Germer  showed  in  the  main  parts  of 
his  church  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  new  Gothic 
vaulting,  and  at  the  same  time  he  covered  his  tribune  gallery 
with  Romanesque  groins.  He  made  heavy  Romanesque 
piers,  and  simultaneously  he  essayed  to  disencumber  the 
pavement  by  employing  the  corbel,  or  side  bracket.  The 
Norman  zigzag  or  chevron  design  decorates  the  heavy  mold- 
ing of  the  pier  arches.  Over  the  sanctuary  he  attempted  the 
inartistic  experiment  of  having  his  ribs  converge,  not  on  a 
keystone,  but  directly  on  a  transverse  rib.  The  ribs  of  the 
upper  vaulting  are  heavy  and  ornamented.  The  pointed 
arches  of  the  pier  arcade  are  surmounted  by  round  arches, 
in  the  tribunes.  And  between  tribune  and  clearstory  are 
square  apertures  neither  Romanesque  nor  Gothic. 

To  meet  the  thrust  of  the  upper  vaulting,  some  rudimentary 
flying  buttresses  were  built  under  the  lean-to  roof  of  the 
tribune  galleries,  but  as  they  themselves  were  not  braced, 
they  remained  ineffectual.  The  collapse  of  some  of  the  high 
vaults  caused  the  addition,  later,  of  the  present  flying  but- 
tresses. The  exterior  of  the  church  is  gaunt,  with  windows 
that  are  small  and  round-arched.  The  west  fagade  was 
wrecked  during  the  Hundred  Years'  War,  and  never  restored. 
Walled-up  arches  mar  the  spacious  interior.  Thick  coats  of 
whitewash  cover  it,  and  when  dust  gathers  on  that  make- 
shift of  cleanliness  the  effect  is  tawdry.  Directly  behind  the 
apse  of  the  big  abbatial  stands  a  masterpiece  of  Rayonnant 
Gothic,  a  diminutive  church  whose  west  fagade  faces,  with 
awkward  closeness,  the  back  of  the  larger  church.  As  it  is 
connected  with  the  latter's  ambulatory  by  a  glazed  passage, 
it  may  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  Lady  chapel.  Many  such 
imitations  of  the  Sainte-Chapelle  of  Paris  arose,  after  St. 
Louis  had  made  his  shrine  -for  the  crown  of  thorns.  The 
abbot  who  put  up  St.  Germer's  glass  reliquary  was  Pierre 

52 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND  ST.  DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

Wesencourt,  who  ruled  from  1254  to  1272,  and  it  is  thought 
that  the  king's  own  architect  designed  it.  That  Louis  IX 
contributed  toward  it  is  shown  by  the  fleur-de-lis  and  the 
donjons  of  Castile  in  the  storied  windows.  Over  the  altar 
once  stood  the  alabaster  retablo,  depicting  St.  Germain's  life, 
now  in  the  Musee  Cluny,  at  Paris. 

POISSY  * 

Christianity  is  still  for  400,000,000  of  human  beings  the  great  pair  of 
wings  that  are  indispensable  if  man  is  to  rise  above  himself,  above  humdrum 
living  and  shut-in  horizons,  it  is  still  the  spiritual  guide  to  lead  him  by 
patience,  resignation,  and  hope  to  serenity,  to  lift  him  by  purity,  temper- 
ance, and  goodness  to  the  heights  of  devotion  and  self-sacrifice.  Always 
and  everywhere  for  nineteen  hundred  years  as  soon  as  these  wings  flag  or 
break,  public  and  private  manners  degenerate.  Neither  philosophy,  reason, 
nor  artistic  and  literary  culture,  nor  even  feudal  honor,  military  and  chival- 
rous, no  code,  no  administration,  no  government  can  serve  as  substitute 
for  it.— H.  TAINE  (1892). 

The  church  of  St.  Louis,  at  Poissy,  is  a  link  in  the  normal 
development  of  Gothic,  and  not  like  St.  Germain,  a  disconcert- 
ing anachronism.  About  1135  both  systems  of  vaults  were 
here  built  at  one  and  the  same  time. 

Poissy  lies  on  the  Seine  slightly  above  its  junction  with  the 
classic  Oise.  A  pleasant  way  to  approach  it  is  to  walk  from 
St.  Germain-en-Laye  through  the  forest,  when  it  is  carpeted 
with  anemones.  St.  Germain's  palace  chapel  is  thought  to 
be  the  work  of  Pierre  de  Montereau.  One  goes  to  Poissy 
in  a  spirit  of  pilgrimage,  for  at  its  font,  in  1215,  St.  Louis  of 
France  was  baptized.2  He  held  the  gift  of  Christian  citizen- 
ship he  here  received  above  all  that  the  world  could  bestow. 
To  his  intimates  he  often  signed  himself  Louis  of  Poissy.  His 
grandfather,  Philippe-Auguste,  had  given  the  manor  of  Poissy 

1  Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  "Poissy  et  Morienval,"  in  Memoires  de   la  Societe  archeoL 
de  Pontoise  et  du  Vexin,  1894,  vol.  16;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  L1  Architecture  religieuse 
dans  Vancien  diocese  de  Soissons  au  Xle  et  au  XIIe  siecle  (Paris,  Plon,  1894),  2  vols., 
folio;  F.  de  Verneilh,  Le  premier  des  monuments  gothic  (Paris,  1864). 

2  Some  naive  XVI-century  lines  are  under  the  window  of  St.  Louis'  chapel: 

"Saint  Louis  fut  un  enfant  de  Poissy, 

Et  baptise  en  la  presente  eglise; 
Les  fonts  en  sont  gardes  encore  ici, 

Et  honores  comme  relique  exquise." 
53 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

to  his  son,  on  his  marriage  to  Blanche  of  Castile.  Living  then 
in  retirement  at  Poissy  was  the  gentle  Agnes  of  Meran,  that 
aunt  of  St.  Elizabeth  of  Hungary  whom  Philippe-Auguste 
had  been  forced  by  Rome's  decree  to  set  aside.  When  St. 
Louis  was  born,  on  St.  Mark's  Day  of  1215,  in  order  to  spare 
the  young  mother,  the  church  bells  were  silent.  The  Spanish 
princess  asked  the  cause,  and  ordered — gallant  woman  that 
she  was — that  every  bell  in  the  town  should  ring  out  a  joyous 
carillon  because  God  had  given  her  un  beaufils.  Shakespeare 
would  inevitably  admire  Blanche;  she  was  a  Shakespearian 
character: 

That  daughter  there  of  Spain,  the  hardy  Blanche, 

Is  near  to  England;    look  upon  the  years 

Of  Louis  the  Dauphin  and  that  lovely  maid. 

If  lusty  love  should  go  in  search  of  beauty, 

Where  shall  he  find  it  fairer  than  in  Blanche? 

If  jealous  love  should  go  in  search  of  virtue, 

Where  shall  he  find  it  purer  than  in  Blanche? 

If  love  ambitious  sought  a  match  of  birth, 

Whose  veins  bound  richer  blood  than  Lady  Blanche?  1 

The  wide  ambulatory  of  Poissy  is  groin-vaulted,  but  di- 
agonals cover  the  two  oriented  apsidioles  that  open  on  a 
false  transept,  which  arrangement  of  pseudo-transept  with 
chapels  was  copied  soon  after  at  Sens.  The  three  eastern- 
most bays  of  the  nave  have  retained  their  primitive  inter- 
secting ribs,  which  are  round-arched,  decorated,  and  very 
broad,  as  are  the  transverse  arches  that  separate  the  vault 
into  sections.  Poissy 's  sculpture  is  of  an  advanced  type. 
Owing  to  later  changes,  there  is  much  patchwork  in  the  church. 

ST.  DENIS-EN-FRANCE 2 

Give  all  thou  canst:  high  Heaven  rejects  the  lore 
Of  nicely  calculated  less  or  more: 
So  deemed  the  man  who  fashioned  for  the  sense 
These  lofty  pillars,  spread  this  branching  roof 
Self-poised. 
— WORDSWORTH. 

1  "King  John,"  Act  II. 

2  Vitry  et  Briere,  L'eglise  abbaiiale  de  St.  Denis  et  ses  tombeaux  (Paris,  Longuet, 
1908);  ibid.,  Documents  de  sculpture  franqaise  (Paris,  1913);    Anthyme  Saint- Paul 

54 


Poissy.     An  Early  Example  of  Gothic  Vaulting  (c.  1135) 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND   ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

Finally  came  the  hour  of  the  new  architecture's  clear 
achievement.  After  all  the  trial  efforts,  there  now  was  built, 
midway  in  the  XII  century,  a  monument  which  was  to  wield 
momentous  influence.  With  the  erection  of  St.  Denis,  the 
center  of  Gothic  art  may  be  said  to  have  shifted  slightly 
south,  to  Paris.  From  the  capital  the  new  movement  spread 
oit  in  systematic  progression — each  church  comprehending 
l>;/'er  than  had  its  predecessor  the  principle  of  thrust  and 
CCM  iterthrust,  each  drawing  from  it  further  consequences. 
iitft.  Denis  did  not  put  a  stop  abruptly  to  the  coexistence  in 
the  same  edifice  of  both  systems  of  vaulting  any  more  than 
it  began  immediately  the  usage  of  all  the  consequences  of 
diagonals.  Yet  none  the  less  the  Royal  Abbey  is  rightly 
called  the  first  Gothic  monument,  since  here  first  was  demon- 
strated stout-heartedly  the  advantages  of  the  new  system. 
Abbot  Suger  was  the  first  to  employ  the  generating  member 
with  the  full  intelligence  of  its  results.  "From  the  moment 
of  St.  Denis'  conception,  Amiens  had  become  inevitable." 

It  was  Suger  who  wedded  definitely  the  pointed  arch  and 
the  intersecting  ribs.  He  dared  to  make  piers  so  slender 
that  the  beholders  were  astonished  they  could  carry  the 
weight  of  a  stone  roof;  he  dared  to  open  his  walls  by  windows 
so  large  that  his  choir  was  called  by  the  people  the  lantern 
of  St.  Denis.  The  mastery  by  Suger's  craftsmen  of  the  art 
of  stained  glass  was  to  have  profound  consequences  in  Gothic 
structure,  since  it  hastened  the  suppression  of  the  wall  screen 


"  Suger.  L'eglise  de  St.  Denis,  et  St.  Bernard,"  Memoire  lu  a  la  Sorbonne,  insere  au 
Bulletin  archeologique,  et  tire  a  part,  1890;  F.  de  Verneilh,  Le  premier  des  monuments 
gothiques  (Paris,  1864);  Abbe  Crosnier,  "Vitrail  de  1'abbaye  de  St.  Denis  explique," 
in  Revue  archeologique,  1847,  vol.  7,  p.  377;  Felicie  d'Ayzac,  Histoire  de  1'abbaye  de 
Saint  Denis-en-France  (Paris,  1861),  2  vols.;  Ferdinand  de  Lasteyrie,  Histoire  de  la 
peinture  sur  verre  (Paris,  Didot,  1852),  2  vols.;  Bushnell,  Storied  Windows  (New  York, 
Macmillan,  1914) ;  fimile  Male,  L'art  religieux  de  la  fin  du  moyen  age  en  France  (Paris, 
A.  Colin,  1910);  ibid.,  "La  part  de  Suger  dans  la  creation  de  1'iconographie,"  in  Revue 
de  Vart  ancien  et  moderne,  1914;  L.  Levillain,  "L'eglise  carolingienne  de  St.  Denis," 
in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1907,  vol.  71,  p.  211;  L.  Levillain  et  L.  Maitre,  "Crypt  de 
St.  Denis,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1903,  p.  136;  Suger,  (Entires  completes,  ed. 
Lecoy  de  la  Marche  (Paris,  Renouard,  1867);  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France.  (Begun 
by  the  XVII-century  Benedictines  and  continued  by  the  Institute  of  France.)  Vol.  12, 
p.  361,  on  Suger,  published  in  1764. 

55 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

between  the  active  members:  "Behold  I  will  lay  thy  stones 
with  fair  colors,  and  thy  foundations  with  sapphires;  and  I 
will  make  thy  windows  of  agates,  and  thy  gates  of  carbuncles, 
and  all  thy  borders  of  pleasant  stones." 

Suger  has  himself  told  us  how  the  house  of  God,  many- 
colored  as  the  radiance  of  precious  stones,  lifted  his  soul 
from  the  cares  of  this  world  to  divine  meditation,  for  this 
Gothic  art,  whose  spiritual  appeal  he  had  apprehended  as 
profoundly  as  he  had  its  structural  laws,  was  most  aptly 
fashioned  to  be  a  foretaste  of  the  Beyond,  neither  touching  the 
baseness  of  earth  nor  wholly  the  serenity  of  heaven. 

Doubtless  Suger  understood  the  importance  of  the  dedi- 
cation day  in  1144.  He  made  of  it  a  national  ceremony. 
He  started  the  Gothic  movement  intrepidly.  Before  a 
historic  gathering  of  bishops  and  barons  he  demonstrated 
that  a  Gothic  vault  was  lighter,  more  easily  built,  more 
economical,  and  more  enduring  than  any  other,  and  the 
important  men  of  France  went  back  to  their  own  cities  to 
spread  far  and  wide  the  lesson  they  had  learned. 

In  the  course  of  the  story  of  French  architecture,  fate  has 
most  graciously  allied  certain  monuments  of  prime  archaeo- 
logical interest  with  people  or  events  of  historic  importance. 

Gothic  art  made  its  debut  in  a  unique  setting.  St.  Denis 
was  the  patron  of  France,  the  missionary  who  first  preached 
Christianity  by  the  Seine,  and  who  there  had  been  martyred 
in  the  III  century.  On  Montmartre  is  the  crypt  said  to 
have  been  the  burial  place  of  the  first  Christian  martyrs  of 
Paris.  In  time  there  rose  on  the  road  outside  the  city  a 
monastery  dedicated  to  St.  Denis,  and  thither  were  his  relics 
transferred.  Each  of  the  three  royal  lines  that  have  ruled 
France,  Merovingian,  Carolingian,  and  Capetian,  chose  the 
abbey  of  St.  Denis  as  their  final  resting  place  and  loaded  it 
with  favors.  The  first  milestone  on  the  highroad  of  Gothic 
art  was  the  famous  center  of  the  nation's  life,  and  the  initiator 
of  the  new  system  of  building  was  the  maker  of  the  nation's 
unity,  Abbot  Suger. 

To  Suger  may  be  applied  the  mediaeval  term  for  an  archi- 

5G 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND   ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

tect,  Master  of  Works,  maitre  de  Vceuvre.  He  wrote  an  account 
of  how  he  reconstructed  his  abbey,  building  it,  he  says,  with 
the  aid  of  his  companions  in  the  community  and  his  brothers 
in  the  cloister.  The  people  gave  voluntarily  of  their  labor. 
When  a  quarry  with  suitable  stone  was  discovered  at  Pontoise, 
the  whole  countryside — men,  women,  and  children  being 
harnessed  to  the  carts — dragged  the  blocks  in  pious  enthu- 
siasm to  St.  Denis. 

The  tomb  of  the  martyred  patron  of  Paris  was  a  pilgrim 
shrine  from  earliest  days.  The  same  trait  in  human  nature 
that,  in  1915,  sent  Americans  to  gaze  reverently  at  a  relic  of 
their  national  history,  the  Liberty  Bell,  when  on  a  two  weeks' 
journey  from  the  San  Francisco  Fair  to  Philadelphia,  it  was 
exhibited  in  different  cities,  made  the  early  Christians  of 
Gaul  flock  to  revere  the  relics  of  the  holy  man  who  had 
brought  them  the  light  and  liberty  of  the  gospel.  Religion 
then  and  all  through  the  Middle  Ages  was  fraught  with 
patriotism. 

For  St.  Denis'  abbey  a  Merovingian  church  had  been 
built  by  Dagobert.  Pepin  and  Charlemagne  replaced  it  by  a 
Carolingian  church.  By  the  XII  century  the  abbatial  had 
become  inadequate  for  the  pilgrim  crowds;  people  were 
crushed  to  death  on  festival  days,  and  Abbot  Suger  decided 
to  rebuild.  He  began  by  demolishing  a  heavy  vestibule 
which  Charlemagne  had  put  up  as  a  kind  of  tomb  over  his 
father's  grave,  for  Pepin  had  begged  to  be  buried  face  down- 
ward in  penance,  before  the  abbey  church.  Suger  replaced 
that  encumbering  porch  by  what  is  to-day  a  narthex,  or 
forechurch,  formed  by  the  two  westernmost  bays  of  the 
edifice.  In  the  'thirties  of  the  XI  century  he  started  the  new 
works.  Romanesque  feeling  lingered  in  the  sculpture,  and  the 
stout  vault  ribs  crossed  each  other  in  round  arches.  By  1140 
the  west  fagade  was  finished  and  ceremoniously  consecrated. 

A  month  later,  a  still  greater  gathering  met  at  St.  Denis 
for  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  of  the  choir.  To  the  sound 
of  trumpets,  Louis  VII  descended  into  the  trench  prepared 
for  the  foundation,  and  placed  the  first  stone,  and  as  the 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

choir  chanted  of  the  jeweled  walls  of  the  heavenly  city, 
Lapidcs  pretiosi  omnes  muri  tui,  the  king,  profoundly  moved, 
took  from  his  finger  a  costly  ring  and  threw  it  into  the  mortar, 
which  had  been  mixed  with  holy  water.  Each  baron  and 
bishop,  as  he  laid  down  a  stone,  did  the  same.  Their  vehement 
faith  would  turn  to  literal  meaning  the  Psalmist's  dream  of 
the  celestial  city. 

In  his  choir,  Suger  united  definitely  the  pointed  arch  with 
the  intersecting  ribs,  and  the  ribs,  now,  were  not  the  heavy 
ones  used  in  his  forechurch.  All  the  arches  at  their  crown 
were  brought  to  the  same  height  by  a  combination  of  stilting, 
pointing,  or  depressing  them.  In  the  outer  aisle  of  his  ambula- 
tory, Suger  introduced  a  fifth  rib  in  each  vault  section,  which 
welded  the  apse  chapels  with  the  procession  path.  For  his 
inner  aisle  he  employed  what  is  called  the  broken-rib  vault. 
First,  the  keystone  was  planted  in  the  center  and  from  it 
branched  the  four  ribs,  each  regardless  of  making  a  straight 
diagonal.  This  became  the  generally  accepted  method  for 
vaulting  an  ambulatory.  Every  part  of  his  edifice  Suger 
supervised  with  untiring  energy.  Owing  to  the  waste  of 
forest  trees  for  machines  of  war,  none  of  sufficient  girth  could 
be  found  for  the  outer  roof  covering.  Suger  lay  brooding 
over  this  one  night,  then  started  up  impetuously  before 
dawn,  took  the  measurements  of  the  beams  needed,  and 
himself  went  into  the  dense  forest.  Before  nine  that  morning 
he  had  found  a  giant  tree;  by  noon  ten  others,  and  the  timber 
was  hauled  in  triumph  to  the  abbey. 

All  France  was  talking  of  the  new  works  at  St.  Denis. 
Never  before  had  been  such  a  gathering  of  skilled  masons 
and  sculptors,  of  goldsmiths  and  glassmakers.  St.  Denis' 
school  was  to  direct  the  glassmakers'  art  through  the  second 
half  of  the  XII  century.  Little  is  known  of  the  origin  of 
that  art;  the  early  basilicas  of  Christian  Gaul  had  made 
use  of  pieces  of  colored  glass  framed  together,  and  in  the 
X  century  figures  were  represented.  No  work,  however, 
previous  to  the  XII  century  has  survived.  For  the  earlier 
fenestration  the  term  "painted  glass"  is  a  misnomer,  since 

58 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND   ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

each  piece  was  colored  in  the  mass,  and  only  a  few  black  lines 
were  applied  to  denote  the  features,  or  the  folds  of  the 
draperies.  The  artists  of  St.  Denis  obtained  their  relief 
effects  by  a  skilled  juxtaposition  of  tones;  intensity  of  hue 
was  increased  by  the  employment  of  thick  rough  leaves  of 
glass.  Scarcely  any  white  was  used;  in  the  ancient  windows 
no  spots  spring  out  unpleasantly. 

To  St.  Denis'  school  succeeded  that  of  Chartres,  which 
predominated  during  the  first  part  of  the  XIII  century,  while 
its  second  half  was  ruled  by  the  school  of  Paris,  when  windows 
of  the  Sainte-Chapelle  type  were  the  rule.  Gradually  the 
craftsmen  gave  up  their  sound  tradition  that  a  window  should 
be  a  transparent  mosaic,  subordinate  to  its  architectural 
setting.  They  began  to  treat  a  window  as  an  isolated  picture 
and  the  art  declined. 

Abbot  Suger's  school  of  glassmakers  carried  their  art  to  its 
zenith.  Not  all  the  wonders  of  XHI-century  fenestration 
equaled  the  unfathomable  vibrant  blue  in  the  background  of 
Xll-century  windows — a  fugitive  mystery  whose  secret  has 
been  entirely  lost.  The  popular  fancy  was  that  Suger  ground 
down  sapphires  to  obtain  his  magic  color. 

All  over  the  land  the  church  builders  desired  windows  like 
those  of  St.  Denis.  Suger's  own  craftsmen  went  to  Chartres 
to  make  the  three  big  lancets  in  that  cathedral's  western 
front.  The  St.  Denis  school  influenced  the  superb  Crucifixion 
window  in  Poitiers  Cathedral,  and  others  in  the  cathedrals  of 
Angers  and  Le  Mans  and  in  the  Trinite  at  Vendome,  also  the 
Tree  of  Jesse  window  in  York  Cathedral.  And,  had  the 
choir  glass  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris  survived,  it  would  have 
been  of  the  school  of  St.  Denis. 

Suger  wrote  inscriptions  for  his  abbey  windows  to  make 
their  symbolism  clearer.  Owing  to  the  vicissitudes  of  seven 
hundred  years,  few  of  the  St.  Denis  lights  have  survived. 
Four  are  now  reset  in  the  central  apse  chapel  and  in  that  to 
its  north.  In  a  medallion  at  the  base  of  one  of  these  windows 
Suger  himself  is  represented  holding  a  scroll  bearing  his 
name.  The  medallion  figures  are  of  the  hieratic  Byzantine 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

type.  Every  window  has  a  closely  woven  pattern;  each 
losenge  has  its  own  border,  and  a  rich  jeweled  border  surrounds 
the  whole  lancet.  Bracing  bars  of  iron  run  straight  across 
the  pictured  story.  Slowly,  with  infinite  patience,  worked 
those  old  XH-century  artists,  and  never  has  their  handicraft 
been  surpassed  as  sheer  splendor  of  ornamentation. 

After  three  years  and  three  months  of  passionate  work, 
the  choir  of  St.  Denis  was  finished,  and  on  June  11,  1144,  the 
dedication  day,  the  relics  were  installed.  That  date,  forever 
memorable  in  the  annals  of  architecture,  may  be  called  the 
consecration  of  the  national  art.  At  the  ceremony  assisted 
Louis  VII  with  his  queen,  Alienor  of  Aquitaine,  whose  strange 
destiny  was  to  make  her  patroness  of  that  entirely  different 
phase  of  Gothic  called  the  Plantagenet  school.  The  chief 
barons  were  present  at  the  dedication,  as  well  as  five  arch- 
bishops and  some  fourteen  bishops.  They  looked  and  wondered, 
and  not  a  few  of  them  returned  home  to  imitate.  The  bishops 
of  Noyon  and  Senlis  hastened  to  rebuild  their  cathedrals 
in  the  new  way,  and  some  of  Suger's  masons  passed  into  the 
service  of  the  former  prelate.  Bishop  Geoffrey  de  Leves 
went  back  to  Chartres  to  build  the  most  beautiful  tower  in 
the  world,  and  the  sculptors  who  had  made  Suger's  western 
portals  (now  no  longer  extant)  worked  on  the  three  west 
doors  of  Chartres. 

On  the  day  of  St.  Denis'  dedication,  Abbot  Suger,  small 
and  frail  in  person,  but  towering  in  personality,  was  honored 
on  every  side.  When  the  abbot  of  great  Cluny,  Peter  the 
Venerable,  passed  from  the  marvels  of  the  new  church  to 
Suger's  narrow  cell,  he  cried  out  in  honest  distress:  "This 
man  condemns  us  all.  He  builds,  not  for  himself,  but  for 
God  alone!" 

Though  the  last  half  of  Suger's  life  was  an  example  of 
monastic  simplicity,  not  always  had  he  been  content  with  a 
monk's  cell.  Perhaps  because  of  his  conversion  midway  in 
life,  he  appeals  to  us  in  a  more  human  way.  Not  that  he 
was  converted  from  evil  doings;  his  purpose  always  was  high. 
But  in  his  position  as  St.  Denis'  abbot,  as  a  powerful  feudal 


60 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND   ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

lord,  he  lived  sumptuously,  according  to  the  accepted  standards 
of  the  time.  He  mixed  freely  in  the  world;  he  directed  state 
affairs  for  the  king  to  whom  he  was  devoted;  he  went  on 
embassies;  he  even  led  armies.  In  1124,  when  an  irate  German 
emperor  was  marching  on  Rheims,  which  he  had  vowed  to 
destroy,  Suger  in  person  led  against  him  some  ten  thousand 
of  his  abbey's  retainers.  That  was  the  first  time  the  oriflamme 
of  St.  Denis  was  carried  as  the  national  emblem.1  Suger 
had  grown  up  in  the  secular  atmosphere  of  the  Royal  Abbey, 
and  took  its  worldliness  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Of  peasant  parentage  himself,  he  had  been  brought,  a  child 
of  ten,  to  live  with  the  monks,  because  he  already  showed 
exceptional  qualities.  Among  his  fellow  students  in  the 
abbey  school  was  the  king's  son,  the  future  Louis  VI,  and  an 
intimacy  began  between  the  two  lads  destined  to  continue 
till  death.  When  Suger  became  a  monk  he  was  sent  on 
notable  missions,  for  he  was  gifted  with  tact  and  good  manners, 
vivacity  and  charm.  Sweetness  of  disposition,  mental  energy, 
courage,  and  absolute  integrity  won  for  him  general  esteem. 
Early  and  often  this  born  lover  of  things  beautiful  made  the 
journey  into  Italy.  It  was  while  returning  from  one  of  his 
missions  there,  in  1122,  that  he  learned  of  his  election  as 
abbot  by  his  fellow  monks  in  St.  Denis.  Louis  VI  had  come 
to  the  throne;  henceforth  Suger  was  to  lead  in  all  state 
affairs. 

The  genius  of  this  son  of  field  workers  had  pierced  to  the 
vital  need  of  the  age — unity  of  government.  Only  a  strong 
central  administration  could  cope  with  the  disintegration 
which  was  feudalism.  For  its  very  existence  the  feudal 
system  depended  on  the  absence  of  well-enforced  general 
laws.  It  was  Suger's  strong  hand  that  guided  the  early  steps 
toward  national  unity,  and  king  and  people  worked  for  it 
together.  Under  the  king  whom  Suger  served  France  began 
her  great  role  of  redresser  of  wrongs.  Louis  VI  was  the 
first  to  use  the  title,  king  of  France,  not  king  of  the  Franks. 
The  ideal  of  this  Xll-century  statesman  was  a  strong  central 

1  Marius  Sepet,  Le  Drapeau  de  la  France. 

61 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

monarchy,  coexistent  with  a  national  assembly.  His  high  con- 
ception of  solidarity  was  to  fructify,  within  a  hundred  years, 
under  Philippe-Auguste,  the  grandson  of  Suger's  master. 

Suger  was  one  of  the  first  in  Europe  to  understand  political 
economy.  He  laid  the  base  of  a  sound  financial  adminis- 
tration. His  confirmation  of  a  charter  for  the  townsmen  cf 
St.  Denis  gave  security  to  trade;  he  relieved  the  abbey  serfs 
of  mainmorte,  built  a  Villeneuve  for  homeless  nomads,  anc 
found  time  to  study  agriculture  scientifically.  In  his  writings 
we  feel  the  first  breath  of  a  national  patriotism.  A  new  note 
in  that  age  of  unfettered  personal  impulse  when  might  meant 
right,  was  Suger's  constant  reference  to  "the  poor  weighed 
down  with  taxations,"  to  "that  which  has  been  too  long 
neglected,  the  care  of  the  surety  of  laborers,  of  artisans,  and 
of  the  poor."  Many  a  modern  politician  could  well  ponder 
Suger's  censure  of  the  spoils  system.  "The  officers  dismissed 
carry  off  what  they  can  lay  their  hands  on,"  he  said,  "and 
those  who  replace  them,  fearing  to  be  likewise  treated,  hasten 
to  steal,  to  secure  their  fortune." 

Suger's  pre-eminence  in  public  affairs  continued  during  two 
reigns.  Louis  VII,  after  stumbling  some  years  without 
guidance,  turned  to  his  father's  counselor  and,  during  his 
absence  on  the  Second  Crusade,  appointed  him  regent  of 
France.  So  masterly  was  the  abbot's  rule  that  king  and, people 
publicly  proclaimed  him  Pere  de  la  Patrie.  Suger  studied  the 
causes  of  the  crusade's  lamentable  failure;  he  felt  that  fore- 
thought and  prudence  might  win  success,  and,  though  he  was 
seventy  years  of  age,  he  began  preparations  to  carry  out  a 
crusade  at  his  own  expense.  Time  was  not  given  him  again 
to  prove  his  genius  for  leadership.  When  news  of  his  death 
(1151)  reached  the  court,  the  king  and  the  Grand  Master  of 
the  Templars,  who  was  with  him,  burst  into  tears.  On  his 
grave  in  the  abbey  church  which  he  had  built  they  cut  the 
simple  inscription,  "Here  lies  Abbot  Suger."  No  need  of 
panegyric.  "The  single  names  are  the  noblest  epitaphs." 

The  commanding  place  held  by  this  monk  in  the  estimation 
of  Europe  is  vouched  for  by  letters  from  pope,  kings,  and 

62 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND  ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

many  a  dignitary.  The  king  of  Sicily  wrote  to  beg  a  line  from 
him;  the  king  of  Scotland  sent  gifts;  the  bishop  of  Salisbury 
made  the  journey  to  France  expressly  to  know  Suger.  By 
one  clear  stroke  after  another — and  above  all  by  his  own 
writings — every  line  of  which  is  of  historical  value — the  picture 
is  filled  in  of  this  admirable  churchman  who  was  as  soundly 
honest  and  forceful  as  the  architecture  he  fostered,  and  whose 
delicate,  ardent  soul  accomplished  remarkable  things  with  the 
reasoned  orderliness  of  the  art  he  loved. 

Suger's  sudden  but  thorough  conversion  is  attributed  to 
St.  Bernard.  Up  to  middle  life  he  had  been  a  type  of  those 
who  soar  as  high  as  human  abilities  can  reach  without  super 
natural  aid.  Entangled  in  the  mesh  of  various  employments, 
his  soul  could  not  rise  to  heavenly  things.  Then  the  trumpet 
of  Bernard's  reform  sounded  in  Europe.  Men's  hearts  were 
set  on  fire  with  repentance  and  aspiration  toward  the  highest. 
Bernard's  clear  eyes  read  beneath  the  outer  circumstance  of 
Abbot  Suger's  life.  He  saw  that  here  was  a  good  man, 
capable  of  becoming  a  holy  one.  He  wrote  fearless  words  of 
disapproval.  "One  would  think  it  was  a  governor  of  a 
province,  not  of  souls,"  he  wrote,  when  he  saw  the  abbot  of 
St.  Denis  ride  by  with  sixty  horsemen. 

Suger  began  to  scrutinize  his  manner  of  life.  Grace  touched 
his  soul,  pomp  was  laid  aside,  and  he  set  about  his  conversion 
with  the  same  thoroughness  that  he  displayed  in  all  his  acts. 
Before  reforming  his  monastery,  he  completely  reformed  him- 
self. With  St.  Bernard,  who  was  ten  years  his  junior,  he  was 
linked  in  ennobling  friendship  to  the  end.  "I  know  pro- 
foundly this  man,"  Bernard  wrote  of  Suger  to  the  pope,  and 
I  know  that  he  is  faithful  and  prudent  in  temporal  things, 
that  he  is  fervent  and  humble  in  things  spiritual.  If  there  is 
any  precious  vase  adorning  the  palace  of  the  King  of  Kings, 
it  is  the  soul  of  the  venerable  Suger."  When  Suger  lay  dying, 
he  wrote  to  St.  Bernard:  "Could  I  but  see  your  angelic 
face  before  I  die,  I  should  go  with  more  confidence."  And 
Bernard,  who  was  to  follow  in  a  year,  begged  that  when  Suger 
reached  Paradise  he  would  "think  of  him  before  God." 

63 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Yet,  if  the  overwhelming  saint  could  change  the  whole 
tenor  of  Suger's  life,  the  cultivated  little  abbot  of  St.  Denis 
offered  a  gentle,  stubborn  opposition  to  the  puritanic  ideas  of 
Bernard  in  the  domain  of  art.  "Vanity  of  vanities,"  cried  the 
ascetic,  in  the  well-known  open  letter  in  which  he  denounced 
the  new  luxury  in  church  building.  Churches  were  made  too 
long,  he  complained,  too  high,  and  needlessly  wide;  the 
capitals  were  carved  with  monsters  more  apt  to  distract  than 
to  lead  to  pious  recollection. 

The  art  lover  in  St.  Denis'  abbey  smiled  at  such  icono- 
clastic vehemence.  Suger  thought  that  nothing  was  too 
precious  for  the  house  of  God.  He  proceeded  to  erect  an 
abbey  church  as  imposing  as  a  cathedral,  and  to  enrich  its 
treasury  with  goldsmith  work.  Over  the  three  gilt-bronze 
entrance  doors  of  his  church  he  inscribed,  "The  soul  on  its 
earthly  pilgrimage  rises  by  material  things  to  contemplate 
the  Divine."  To  this  day  both  men  have  vigorous  partisans, 
and  those  who  set  out  on  a  cathedral  tour  in  France  are  more 
likely  to  be  on  Suger's  side  in  the  controversy. 

Suger's  subtle  mind  reached  beyond  the  ascetic's  maxim. 
Well  he  knew  that  both  saint  and  art  patron  were  needed, 
well  he  knew  that  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  was  as  instrumental 
as  himself  in  the  formation  of  the  cathedral  builders.  A 
living  example  of  Christian  perfection,  Bernard  fortified  the 
faith  of  all  Europe.  He  might  advocate  church  simplicity, 
but  it  was  not  without  cause  that  his  apostolate  preceded 
the  most  fecund  creative  period  of  mankind's  art.  His  im- 
passioned love  of  God  warmed  the  imaginations  of  the  men 
who  began  the  big  Gothic  churches. 

What  remains  to-day  of  the  XH-century  abbatial  built  by 
Suger  of  St.  Denis?  Comparatively  little.  The  lower  parts 
of  the  west  fagade  and  the  two  first  bays  of  the  nave  which 
form  a  narthex,  or  vestibule,  are  his  work.  In  the  choir,  his 
beautiful  ambulatory  begins  at  the  third  bay  of  the  double 
aisles.  There  are  nine  bays  of  Suger's  processional  path, 
and  from  them  radiate  seven  apse  chapels.  The  pillars  that 
divide  the  lovely  curving  double  passage  are  the  very  ones 

64 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND  ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

which  the  generous  enthusiasm  of  the  people  dragged  from 
Pontoise,  and,  in  memory  of  the  little  abbot,  some  will  touch 
those  slender  columns  with  reverential  gesture.  It  was  Suger 
who  created  the  disposition  of  the  rond  point  found  in  its 
perfection  at  St.  Denis  and  copied  in  the  great  cathedrals. 
The  crypt  also  is  his  work,  though  its  nucleus  belonged  to  an 
underground  shrine  built  by  Abbot  Hilduin  in  the  XI  century. 
When  Abbot  Suger  had  finished  his  choir,  he  proceeded  to 
make  a  new  Gothic  transept  and  nave;  but  of  them  scarcely 
a  vestige  remains.  Some  sculpture  at  the  north  door  of  the 
transept  is  of  the  XII  century.  Whether  the  construction 
was  faulty,  or  whether  the  monks  desired  a  more  ample 
church,  there  was  a  total  reconstruction  of  St.  Denis'  abbatial, 
a  hundred  years  after  Suger's  day. 

THE  ST.   DENIS  OF  ST.   LOUIS 

Tax  not  the  royal  Saint  with  vain  expense, 

With  ill-matched  aims,  the  architect  who  planned 
(Albeit  laboring  for  a  scanty  band 

Of  white-robbed  scholars  only)  this  immense 

And  glorious  work  of  fine  intelligence. 

— WORDSWORTH. 

From  1231  to  1280,  at  St.  Louis'  own  expense,  the  present 
nave  and  transept  of  St.  Denis  were  built,  and  the  first  bay 
of  the  choir  as  well  as  the  upper  parts  of  the  chevet  were  re- 
constructed. Inasmuch  as  the  new  nave  was  wider  than 
the  choir,  a  canted  bay  of  the  latter  joined  it  to  the  transept. 

St.  Denis,  as  it  now  appears,  presents  the  noble  elegance  of 
Gothic  art  in  its  golden  hour.  The  new  transept  was  made 
of  exceptional  width;  its  aisles  and  stately  piers  compose 
picturesque  vistas.  The  triforium  of  the  reconstructed 
church  was  glazed,  one  of  the  first  essays  of  a  feature  which 
was  to  be  in  general  use  in  the  XIV  century.  To  unite  tri- 
forium and  clearstory  in  a  brilliant  sparkle  of  color  added  to 
the  magnificence  of  a  church,  but  it  marked  a  decline  in  the 
sound  structural  laws  of  Gothic.  The  purpose  of  a  triforium 
arcade  was  to  beautify  the  plain  wall  surface  necessitated  by 

65 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  lean-to  roof  over  the  side  aisles.  When  that  blind  arcade 
was  opened,  the  lean-to  roof  of  the  aisles  had  to  be  changed 
to  a  conical  one,  which  signified  an  inner  channel  for  rain 
water  and  the  ultimate  deterioration  of  the  masonry.  Suger's 
St.  Denis  had  started  the  delight  in  stained  glass,  and  the 
St.  Denis  of  St.  Louis  merely  carried  out  its  consequences — 
the  suppression  of  wall  inclosures.  The  present  upper  win- 
dows of  the  abbatial  are  poor  examples  of  Louis-Philippe's 
day. 

The  architect  of  Louis  IX,  Pierre  de  Montereau,  designed 
St.  Denis  as  we  have  it  to-day,  so  says  a  record  recently 
unearthed  by  M.  Henri  Stein.1  He  was  an  innovator  who  here 
first  accentuated  the  upward  sweep  of  Gothic  lines.  To 
that  XIH-century  master  they  attributed  for  a  time  the  Sainte- 
Chapelle  of  the  king's  palace  in  the  Cite,  but  now  that  it  is 
certain  that  he  planned  St.  Denis,  it  is  doubted  if  he  made 
the  Sainte-Chapelle,  as  there  is  little  kinship  between  the 
two.  There  is  a  decided  likeness  between  St.  Denis  and  the 
chapel  of  the  palace  at  St.  Germain-en-Laye,  and  also  with 
the  Lady  chapel  of  St.  Germer-en-Flay.  Pierre  de  Montereau 
was  buried  in  1267  in  a  now-destroyed  Sainte-Chapelle  which 
he  had  erected  within  the  monastery  inclosure  of  St.  Germain- 
des-Pres,  at  Paris. 

Both  Montereau  and  Montreuil  claim  this  distinguished 
master.  Probably  he  was  born  in  the  former  town  on  the 
border  of  Champagne,  as  his  church  at  St.  Denis  shows  a  trait 
of  that  region,  the  gallery  of  circulation  under  the  windows 
of  the  side  aisles.  Moreover,  two  of  his  abbot  patrons  came 
from  Montereau.  The  architect  Eudes  de  Montreuil,  whom 
St.  Louis  took  with  him  on  his  first  crusade,  and  who  worked 
on  the  fortresses  of  Aigues-Mortes  and  Jaffa,  was  a  son  of 
Pierre  de  Montereau,  it  is  supposed,  and  his  name  should  be 
spelled  in  the  same  way. 

No  tomb  in  St.  Denis'   abbey  church  predates   the  XIII 

1  Henri  Stein,  Les  architectes  des  cathtdrales  gothiqucs  (Paris,  H.  Lauren.s,  1908) ; 
ibid.,  "  Pierre  de  Montereau,"  in  Mcmoires  de  la  Societe  des  antiquaircs  de  France, 
1900,  vol.  61. 

66 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND   ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

century.  To  honor  King  Dagobert,  founder  of  the  abbey,  St. 
Louis  put  up  an  elaborate  monument  and  ordered  the  effigies 
that  distinguish  his  royal  predecessors'  graves.  With  the 
tombstone  of  St.  Louis'  son,  Philip  the  Bold,  began  portrait 
work.  An  exact  likeness  of  Charles  V,  the  good  Valois  king, 
was  made  by  his  Flemish  sculptor,  Andre  Beauneveu,  and  of 
almost  too  great  realism  is  that  of  his  general  Bertran  Dugues- 
clin,  whom  King  Charles  ordered  buried  with  royal  honors 
in  the  national  necropolis. 

It  was  the  XVI  century  that  added  to  St.  Denis'  the 
three  tombs  of  most  architectural  pretensions,  those  of  Louis 
XII,  Francis  I,  and  Henry  II.  The  monument  of  Louis  XII 
and  Anne  of  Brittany  was  undertaken  (1516-32)  by  Jean 
Juste,  who  with  his  brothers  had  come  north  from  Florence, 
being  among  the  first  to  bring  into  France  the  ideals  of  the 
Renaissance.1  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  king's  and 
queen's  kneeling  images  are  from  the  studio  at  Tours  of 
Guillaume  Regnault,  who  for  forty  years  was  co-worker  with 
Michel  Colombe,  last  of  the  great  Gothic  artists.  The  priants 
are  still  quite  French  in  treatment.  Jean  Juste  made  the 
gisants  and  his  brother  and  nephew  aided  with  the  lesser 
sculpture.  It  was  Louis  XII  who  ordered  artists  at  Genoa  to 
make,  in  1502,  the  Carrara  marble  tomb  of  his  father,  the 
poet-duke,  Charles  d'Orleans,  and  of  his  grandfather,  the 
murdered  duke  of  Orleans,  builder  of  Pierrefonds  Castle,  and 
son  of  the  art-loving  Valois  king,  Charles  V. 

The  tomb  of  Francis  I  '(1549-59)  was  designed  by 
PhiJibert  de  Lorme.  Pierre  Bontemps  fashioned  the  bas- 
reliefs  that  celebrate  the  wars  in  Italy;  he  and  other  masters 
made  the  priants  and  gisants.  The  tomb  of  Henry  II  and 
Catherine  de  Medici  (1570)  of  less  artistic  value,  has  a  compli- 
cated history.  The  Italian,  Primatici,  directed  the  works; 
Domenico  Florentine  made  the  king's  kneeling  figure,  and 

1  A.  de  Montaiglon,  "  La  famille  des  Juste  en  France,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental, 
187G,  vol.  42,  pp.  7G,  768.  Details  of  the  tombs  of  St.  Denis  are  to  be  found  in  Palustre, 
La  Renaissance  en  France  (1888);  Gonse,  La  Sculpture  franyaisc  dcpuis  le  XlVe  siecle 
(1895);  Vitry,  Michel  Colombo  et  la  sculpture  frangaise  (1901);  and  in  writings  by  A. 
Saint-Paul  and  Louis  Courajod. 

67 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Germain  Pilon  his  gisant;  Jerome  della  Robbia  chiseled  the 
queen's  death  image. 

To  sum  up:  there  are  in  St.  Denis'  abbatial  three  totally 
different  parts,  built  in  different  periods.  There  is  Suger's 
forechurch,  in  which  linger  Romanesque  echoes;  there  is  the 
ambulatory  of  purest  Primary  Gothic  built  a  little  later  by 
the  same  great  abbot;  and  finally  there  are  nave,  transept, 
and  the  main  parts  of  the  choir  erected  during  the  reign  of 
St.  Louis  in  the  zenith  of  Gothic  art. 

As  one  stands  in  the  center  of  the  church,  gazing  along  its 
vaulting,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  the  axis  is  broken  three 
times,  and  each  divergence  from  the  straight  line  conforms  to 
one  of  the  different  stages  of  work.  The  deviation  of  the 
axis  line  once  was  called  poetically  inclinato  capite  (et  inclinato 
capile,  emisit  spiritum — St.  John  xix:30).  It  was  thought  to 
symbolize  the  inclining  of  Christ's  head  on  the  Cross.  When 
M.  Robert  de  Lasteyrie  proved  that  a  constructive  mis- 
calculation was  the  cause  of  the  irregular  line,  the  beautiful 
idea  had  to  be  renounced.1  In  each  successive  addition  to  a 
church  it  was  difficult  for  the  architect  to  start  the  new  part 
exactly  on  the  same  axis  as  the  old,  since  usually  a  temporary 
wall  shut  off  the  portion  of  the  church  already  finished  and 
in  use.  The  slightest  miscalculation  at  the  start  led  to  a 
very  apparent  deflection  of  alignment.  Those  churches  which 
show  irregular  alignment  are  known  to  have  been  built  in 
successive  stages.  A  number  of  church  choirs  slant  to  the 
south,  whereas  were  the  figure  on  the  crucifix  taken  as  model 
they  would  deviate  to  the  north.  In  churches  without  a 
transept,  or,  in  other  words,  churches  that  lack  the  extended 
arms  of  the  cross,  is  sometimes  found  a  decided  slant  to  the 
north.  Moreover,  the  crucifix  of  that  epoch  represented  a 

1  R.  de  Lasteyrie,  "La  deviation  de  1'axe  des  eglises  est-elle  symbolique?"  in  Bulletin 
Monumental,  1905,  vol.  69,  p.  422,  also  published  separately;  A.  Saint-Paul,  "Les 
irregularites  de  plan  des  eglises,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1906,  vol.  70,  p.  129; 
John  Bilson,  "Deviation  of  Axis  in  Medieval  Churches,"  in  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Institute  of  British  Architects,  December  25,  1905;  W.  H.  Goodyear,  "Architectural 
Refinements  in  French  Cathedrals,"  in  Architectural  Record,  vols.  16,  17,  1904-05,  and 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  3d  series,  1907,  vol.  15,  p.  17. 

68 


V 


St.  Denis-en-France  and  Its  Royal  Mausoleums 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND   ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

triumphant  Christ  with  erect  head,  for  the  art  of  the  XIII 
century  was  serene;  the  pathetic  in  religious  iconography 
was  a  later  development.  No  writer  of  the  period  mentions 
a  symbolic  interpretation  of  the  deviated  axis,  not  even 
Bishop  Guillaume  Durandus,  in  his  noted  Rationale,  or 
Signification  of  the  Divine  Offices.  There  is,  instead,  a.  text  of 
the  XIV  century  which  says  that  a  certain  architect  was  so 
chagrined  at  having  built  a  tortuous  axial  line  that  he  never 
returned  to  be  paid  by  the  cathedral  chapter.  Mr.  Arthur 
Kingsley  Porter  thinks  that  the  deviation  of  the  axis  was 
intentionally  done,  in  order  to  overcome  that  tendency  of 
perspective  which  lessens  the  apparent  length  of  a  church  by 
foreshortening  its  far  bays.  By  slanting  the  east  end,  the 
distant  bays  could  be  brought  into  view,  and  thus  the  edifice 
would  seem  longer. 

The  Royal  Abbey  of  St.  Denis  suffered  during  the  Hundred 
Years'  War,  from  which  period  dates  the  crenelated  wall  at 
the  birth  of  the  towers.  In  those  checkered  times  the  silver 
tombs  of  St.  Louis,  of  his  father  Louis  VIII,  and  of  his  grand- 
father Philippe-Auguste,  disappeared.  In  the  XVI-century 
religious  wars  the  abbey  was  pillaged,  and  its  library,  a 
national  treasure,  was  burned.  The  Calvinists  carried  off 
Suger's  altar  vessels  of  silver  and  gold,  on  which  the  learned 
little  abbot  had  inscribed  Latin  verses.  The  Revolution 
completed  the  havoc;  of  the  monks'  quarters  nothing  remains 
to-day.  The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  voted  to  destroy 
the  tombs  of  "our  ancient  tyrants"  on  the  first  anniversary 
of  the  August  10th  that  had  unseated  the  monarchy.  So 
the  mob  sallied  forth  to  St.  Denis  and  scattered  the  dust  of 
the  patriot  Suger,  whose  life  work  had  been  the  public  weal, 
and  the  dust  of  St.  Louis,  the  most  conscientious  man  who 
ever  ruled  a  nation  and  the  first  to  give  France  her  written 
laws.  The  gruesome  account  of  the  wrecking  of  the  royal 
tombs  was  written  by  an  eyewitness.1 


1  During  three  days  in  August,  1793,  and  again  in  October  of  the  same  year,  the 
tombs  at  St.  Denis  were  violated.  Robespierre  stood  long  studying  the  chivalrous 
head  of  Henry  IV,  then  plucked  some  hairs  from  the  king's  white  beard  and  put  them 

69 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

In  the  opening  years  of  the  XVIII  century,  the  abbey 
church  was  described  by  Chateaubriand  as  in  a  ruinous 
state,  with  the  rain  falling  through  its  roof  and  grass  growing 
on  the  broken  altars:  "The  birds  use  its  nave  as  a  passage- 
way; little  children  play  with  the  bones  of  mighty  monarchs. 
St.  Denis  is  a  desert."  Napoleon  began  its  restoration,  and 
many  of  the  scattered  tombs  were  brought  back.  During 
the  first  half  of  the  XIX  century  some  deplorably  bad  work 
was  carried  on,  and  the  robust  primitive  profiles  were  chiseled 
away.  No  sooner  was  the  spire  on  the  north  tower  finished 
than  cracks  showed,  and  the  tower  was  dismantled  to  the 
level  of  the  roof.  Later  changes  have  repaired  some  of  the 
stupidity  of  those  tasteless  renovators. 

The  very  history  which  had  been  enacted  within  the  walls 
of  the  great  abbatial  would  suffice  to  make  it  a  national  relic. 
To  the  Primary-Gothic  church  which  Suger  was  building  came 
Louis  VII  for  the  oriflamme,  the  banner  carried  before  the 
army  in  momentous  wars.  He  shared  bed  and  board  with 
the  monks  the  night  before  he  set  forth  on  the  Second  Crusade. 
To  the  same  early-Gothic  church,  in  1190,  came  his  son 
Philippe-Auguste,  to  receive  the  oriflamme  for  the  Third 
Crusade.  The  flame-colored  abbey  gonfalon  on  its  gold  lance 
flouted  the  German  emperor  when  Bouvines'  great  victory 
was  won  in  1214.  At  the  funeral  of  Philippe-Auguste,  in  1223, 
a  little  lad  of  eight  marched  to  St.  Denis'  behind  his  grand- 
father's bier.  It  was  the  first  time  that  the  populace  had 
beheld  their  future  saint-king,  and  an  old  record  tells  how 
his  noble  bearing  gladdened  their  hearts.  At  his  side  walked 
Jean  de  Brienne,  king  of  Jerusalem,  leader  of  the  recent 
Fifth  Crusade.  When  St.  Louis  came  to  St.  Denis  for  the 
oriflamme  in  1247,  it  was  to  find  a  totally  reconstructed 
church,  for  Pierre  de  Montereau  had  been  many  years  at 
work.  Joinville  in  his  memoirs  described  the  landing  in 

in  his  portfolio;  Henry  IV  had  abjured  Calvinism  in  this  very  church  of  St.  Denis  in 
1593.  The  corpse  of  Louis  XIV  presented  an  air  of  serene  majesty.  When  the 
coffin  of  Louis  XV  was  opened  the  air  was  infected  insupportably.  On  that  same 
day  in  October,  1793,  Marie  Antoinette  mounted  the  scaffold.  Her  remains  and 
those  of  Louis  XVI  are  to-day  laid  in  the  inner  core  of  St.  Denis'  crypt 

70 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND   ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

Egypt  of  the  Royal  Abbey's  banner,  how  for  miles  the  sea 
was  dotted  with  the  gleaming  ships  of  the  crusaders,  how 
the  king,  standing  head  and  shoulders  above  the  rest,  on 
perceiving  that  the  leading  vessel  which  bore  the  oriflamme 
had  touched  shore,  leaped  into  the  sea,  sword  in  hand,  with 
the  cry,  "Montjoye  St.  Denis!"  And  uttering  the  same 
battle  cry  of  France,  princes  and  knights  followed.  Five 
years  later,  tested  by  defeat  and  imprisonment,  as  fine 
gold  is  by  fire,  Louis  IX  brought  back  the  oriflamme  to 
St.  Denis.  Again  he  returned  for  it  in  1270  for  his  last 
crusade.  Within  a  year,  the  whole  nation,  in  mourning, 
came  out  to  the  abbey.  In  a  reliquary,  the  king  s  bones, 
embalmed  with  fragrant  spices,  had  been  brought  from 
Tunis,  and  the  new  king  bore  the  chdsse  solemnly,  and 
wherever  he  paused,  on  the  way  from  Notre  Dame  to 
St.  Denis,  a  memorial  cross  was  erected.  But,  to  give  the 
annals  of  the  abbey  church  would  be  to  tell  the  history  of 
the  French  monarchy. 

The  first  time  that  the  gonfalon  of  St.  Denis  was  carried 
against  Frenchmen  was  in  1413,  two  years  before  the  defeat 
at  Agincourt,  in  the  black  days  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War, 
days  as  fatal  to  the  builders'  art  as  to  the  civic  life  of  France. 
What  those  dire  times  were  that  rent  France  to  shreds,  and 
how  la  fille  de  Lorraine  a  nulle  autre  pareille  came  to  the  rescue, 
have  been  sung  by  a  poet  whose  high  destiny  it  was  to  fall 
in  recent  battle.  Charles  Peguy,  in  his  poem,  linked  the 
momentous  epochs  of  the  capital:  St.  Denis,  who  brought 
the  Light;  Ste.  Genevieve,  the  sentinel  patroness  of  Paris,  who 
guarded  it,  and  Jeanne  d'Arc,  who  lifted  up  the  torch  from 
the  mire — the  torch  which  the  fallen  heroes  of  the  World 
War  have  passed  on  refulgent. 

In  the  V  century  it  was  at  Genevieve's  instigation  that  a 
basilica  was  raised  to  honor  St.  Denis.  In  the  XV  century 
Jeanne  d'Arc  paid  tribute  to  the  first  martyr  of  Paris.  Her 
troops  lodged  in  the  town  of  St.  Denis,  then  moved  in  closer 
to  Paris,  and  in  a  shrine  dedicated  to  St.  Denis,  in  the  village 
of  La  Chapelle,  Jeanne  heard  Mass,  the  morning  that  she  led 

71 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  assault  on  the  walls  of  Paris,  September  8,  1429.  When 
wounded  she  was  carried  back  to  La  Chapelle  (to-day  a 
dense  industrial  faubourg  of  the  city),  and  on  St.  Denis'  altar 
she  offered  tribute.  During  her  trial  at  Rouen  they  asked 
her  what  arms  she  had  offered  to  St.  Denis.1 

"A  complete  knight's  outfit  in  white,  with  a  sword  that  I 
had  won  before  Paris,"  was  Jeanne's  reply.  "And  why  did 
you  make  that  offering?"  asked  the  judge,  bent  on  twisting 
her  every  act  to  sorcery.  Jeanne  answered  hardily:  "For 
devotion,  and  because  it  is  the  custom  for  all  men-of-arms 
when  they  are  merely  wounded  thus  to  give  thanks.  Having 
been  wounded  before  Paris,  I  offered  my  arms  to  St.  Denis 
because  his  is  the  cry  of  France." 

But  let  Charles  Peguy  speak,  he  who  fell  between  Belgium 
and  Paris  in  August,  1914: 2 

Comme  Dieu  ne  fait  rien  que  par  misericordes, 

II  fallut  qu'elle  [Ste.  Genevieve]  vit  le  royaume  en  lambeaux, 

Et  sa  filleule  ville  embrase'e  aux  flambeaux, 

Et  ravagee  aux  mains  des  plus  sinistres  hordes; 

Et  les  coeurs  de'vore's  des  plus  basses  discordes, 
Et  les  morts  poursuivis  jusque  dans  les  tombeaux, 
Et  cent  mille  innocents  exposes  aux  corbeaux, 
Et  les  pendus  tiront  la  langue  au  bout  des  cordes: 

Pour  qu'elle  vit  fleurir  la  plus  grande  merveille 
Que  jamais  Dieu  le  peie  en  sa  simplicity 
Aux  jardins  de  sa  grace  et  de  sa  volonte" 
Ait  fait  jaillir  par  force  et  par  necessite"; 

Apres  neuf  cent  vingt  ans  de  priere  et  de  veille, 
Quand  elle  vit  venir  vers  1'antique  cite  .  .  . 
La  fille  de  Lorraine  a  nulle  autre  pareille  .   .  . 
Gardant  son  coeur  intact  en  pleine  adversite, 
Masquant  sous  sa  visiere  une  efficacite, 


1  E.  O'Reilly,  Les  deux  proces  de  condamnation  .  .  .  de  Jeanne  d' Arc,  vol.  2,  p.  134, 
the  eighth  interrogation,  March  17,  1431  (Paris,  Plon,  1868),  2  vols. 

1  Charles  Peguy,  (Eurres  de,  "La  tapisserie  de  Sainte-Genevieve  et  de  Jeanne  d'Arc." 
vol.  6  (Paris,  edition  de  la  Nouvelle  Revue  francaise,  1916-18). 

72 


ABBOT  SUGER  AND   ST.   DENIS-EN-FRANCE 

Tenant  tout  un  royaume  en  sa  t^nacite", 
Vivant  en  pleine  mystere  avec  sagacite", 
Mourant  en  plein  martyre  avec  vivacit6  .  .  . 
Jetant  toute  une  arm£e  aux  pieds  de  la  priere.1 


1  The  following  is  a  free  rendering  of  Peguy's  verses : 

Since  God  but  acts  for  pity  of  us  here, 
So  Genevieve  must  see  her  France  in  shreds, 
And  Paris,  her  own  godchild,  swept  by  flames. 
And  ravaged  by  the  most  sinister  hordes. 

And  hearts  devoured  by  blackest  base  discords, 
And  even  in  their  graves  the  dead  pursued, 
On  gibbets  many  an  innocent  hung  high 
With  tongue  protruding,  pecked  by  raven  birds. 

France  all  despair.     Then  saw  she  come  the  Sign, 

A  greater  marvel  never  God  had  willed 

In  His  Serenity  and  Grace  and  Force, 

After  nine  hundred-twenty  vigil  years 

Genevieve  saw  approach  her  ancient  city 

Her  of  Lorraine,  emblem  of  God's  pure  pity — 

Jeanne  the  Maid!- 

Guarding  her  heart  intact  in  dire  adversity, 
Masking  beneath  her  visor  her  efficacity, 
Living  in  deep  mystery  with  sweet  sagacity, 
Dying  in  drear  martyrdom  with  brave  vivacity  .  = 
Sweeping  all  an  army  to  the  feet  of  Prayer. 


CHAPTER  III 

Some   of   the   Primary    Gothic    Cathedrals:    Noyon,    Senlis, 
Sens,  Laon,  Soissons 

C'est  vers  le  Moycn  Age  enorme  et  delicat, 

Qu'il  faudrait  que  mon  coeur  en  panne  navigudt. 

.  .  .  Roi,  politician,  moinc,  artisan,  chimiste, 

Architcdc,  soldat,  medecin,  avocat, 

Quel  temps!     Old,  que  mon  coeur  naufrage  rcmbarqudt. 

Pour  toute  cctte  force  ardente,  souple,  artiste!  .  .  . 

Guide  par  la  folic  unique  de  la  Croix 

Sur  tes  ailes  de  pierre,  6  folle  Cathedrale! 

— PAUL  VERLAINE,  Sagesse,  IV.1 

|T.  DENIS'  abbatial  was  an  object  lesson  in 
the  new  art,  and  the  bishops  returned  to  their 
dioceses  to  emulate  it.  Two  of  Suger's  personal 
friends,  the  bishops  of  Noyon  and  Senlis,  were 
the  first  to  rebuild  their  cathedrals.  Already 
during  the  Romanesque  stage  the  cathedral  of  Sens  had  been 
initiated;  it  now  was  to  be  carried  on  according  to  the  new 
system  of  building.  At  Laon  was  begun  a  splendid  Gothic 
edifice.  At  Soissons,  a  new  cathedral  was  started  by  that 
masterpiece  of  Primary  Gothic,  the  transept's  southern  arm. 
And  many  a  lesser  church  now  rose:  the  collegiate  at 
Braine,  the  abbey  church  of  St.  Leu  d'Esserent,  and  two 
abbatials  in  Champagne  as  imposing  as  cathedrals,  St.  Remi 
at  Rheims,  and  Notre  Dame  at  Chalons-sur-Marne.  Also  in 
Champagne  is  the  Primary  Gothic  church  of  St.  Quiriace  at 
Provins. 

The  cathedral  of  Paris  was  also  begun  in  the  primary  stage 
of  the  national  art.  But  Notre  Dame  of  Paris  must  have  a 
chapter  to  itself.  Before  its  main  parts  were  completed, 
Gothic  architecture  had  reached  its  culminating  point.  With 

1  Paul  Verlaine,  Choix  de  Poesies  (Paris,  Charpentier,   1912). 

74 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

it  ended  the  primary  group  and  opened  what  we  shall  call 
the  Era  of  the  Great  Cathedrals,  though  let  it  be  remembered 
that  all  such  divisions  are  arbitrary  and  made  use  of  merely 
for  clearness.  From  its  first  assured  steps  to  its  apogee, 
from  the  middle  of  the  XII  century  to  the  middle  of  the 
XIII,  the  sequence  of  Gothic  architecture  is  welded  too  logically 
to  be  defined  by  cut-and-dried  nomenclature. 

During  the  XII  century,  the  Gothic  cathedrals  retained 
Romanesque  features,  such  as  deep  tribunes  over  the  side 
aisles,  which  gave  them  a  wall  elevation  in  four  stories — 
pier  arcade,  tribune,  triforium  (to  veil  the  lean-to  roof 
over  the  tribune),  and  clearstory.  At  first  it  was  common 
usage  to  encircle  the  clustered  shafts  at  intervals  with  stone 
rings,  but  by  the  XIII  century  the  desire  for  an  unbroken 
ascending  line  had  grown  stronger,  and  the  employment 
of  such  horizontal  bands  died  out.  The  simultaneous  use 
of  both  round  and  pointed  arch  is  found  in  all  five  of 
these  Primary  cathedrals;  but  after  the  opening  of  the 
XIII  century,  semicircular  and  equilateral  arches  rarely 
were  used  at  the  same  time  in  a  church.  Slowly,  as  if 
with  reluctance,  the  new  architecture  dropped  favorite  traits 
of  the  old  school.  Sculpture  continued  longest  faithful  to 
Romanesque  traditions. 

Noyon,  Senlis,  Sens,  Laon,  and  Soissons — it  seems  rash  to 
treat  of  such  a  bevy  of  churches  in  one  chapter,  when  students 
have  made  a  single  cathedral  their  life  work.  The  passing 
traveler  is  encouraged  by  one  fact:  each  big  French  church, 
once  seen,  remains  a  clear-cut  memory,  for  each  possesses  a 
distinct  personality.  To  confuse  one  cathedral  with  another 
is  impossible. 

It  is  an  instinct  deeper  than  mere  fancy  to  choose  a  season 
aesthetically  right  for  a  first  visit  to  such  sanctuaries.  For 
these  Primary  cathedrals  the  fitting  occasion  is  that  fugitive 
hour  when  the  leaves  are  multiple  yet  half  transparent  still, 
only  partly  veiling  the  virile  framework  of  the  tree.  In  them 
is  the  evanescence  of  spring,  the  slenderness  of  adolescence 
and  its  virginal  restraint,  that  something  of  youth's  severity, 

75 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

that  something  of  youth's  radiance  which  is  joy,  but  not 
abandonment  to  joy. 

There  is  something  sacred  in  the  modest  sobriety  of  the 
earlier  Gothic  churches.  .  .  .  But  what  words  can  express 
their  unimaginable  charm!  If  all  true  art  is  but  a  symbol, 
a  prefiguring  of  the  mystery,  these  churches  veil  and  reveal  the 
coming  harmonies  of  the  Beyond  as  it  never  before  was  revealed 
and  veiled.  We  speak  of  Chartres  as  a  recollected  holiness; 
the  stones  of  Rheims  were  made  majestic  for  royal  pageants; 
Amiens  is  a  sursum  cor  da.  And  yet  there  is  something  in 
the  first  fugitive  hour  when  Romanesque  and  Gothic  met 
that  makes  a  deeper  appeal  to  the  soul.  No  Greek,  in  portico 
or  sepulchral  tablet,  conceived  beauty  of  lovelier  proportion,  of 
more  heart-piercing  simplicity,  than  some  of  the  earlier  churches 
of  the  national  genius. 

When  in  the  French  towns  the  word  passed  from  mouth 
to  mouth,  on  a  tragic  day  of  September,  1914,  that  Rheims 
Cathedral  was  in  flames,  there  were  many  who  asked  breath- 
lessly: "And  St.  Remi?  What  of  St.  Remi?"  And  when 
the  invaders  burst  upon  Senlis,  many  who  knew  the  lovely 
springtime  Gothic  church  of  St.  Leu  d'Esseient  trembled 
for  its  fate.  Over  the  birthplace  of  the  nation's  unity  of 
language  and  architecture  has  poured  a  pitiless  rain  of  iron 
and  fire,  a  destruction  akin  to  desecration.1  Cradle  and 
necropolis ! 

The  iron  grip  has  held  cloistral  Noyon  that  was  only  too 
content  to  be  forgotten  in  its  distinguished  retirement.  The 
proudest  mediaeval  thing  in  France,  Laon  set  with  feudal 
arrogance  on  its  high  hill,  has  been  long  years  in  chained 
captivity.  For  seven  centuries  the  faithful  bulls  on  Laon's 
towers  have  looked  out,  like  sentinels,  over  the  city.  With 
dread  forebodings .  they  stood  in  their  captivity,  aware  that 
the  angel  guard  set  about  Rheims  Cathedral  had  pleaded 
in  vain,  that  the  tower  of  Senlis,  pride  of  all  the  Valois 

"The  privileged  land  where  the  Seine,  the  Oise,  and  the  Marne  approach  their 
waters  gave  France  its  laws  and  political  unity,  its  literary  language  with  its  incom- 
parable clarity,  and  its  Gothic  art." — ERNEST  LAVISSE,  Histoire-de  France. 

76 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

country,  had  been  selected  as  a  target  by  the  invaders' 
guns.  And  Bamburg  and  Limburg,  Halberstadt  and  Magde- 
burg, had  copied  Laon  Cathedral  in  the  old  days  when 
the  opus  francigenum  aroused  emulation,  not  hate,  across 
the  Rhine. 

Month  after  month,  year  after  year,  the  shells  rained  on 
Soissons;  town  and  cathedral  lie  in  ruins.  The  fair  cities  of 
this  inmost  heart  of  France  have  been  desolated,  the  loyal 
places  that  hastened  to  open  their  gates  to  Jeanne  d'Arc 
when  she  rode  by  with  her  king  from  the  coronation  in 
Rheims — Senlis  and  Laon,  Soissons  and  Compiegne,1  and 
Crespy-en-Valois,  the  countryside  that  greeted  her  with 
such  love  that  she  said  she  hoped  to  be  buried  among  such 
good  folk,  among  these  chiers  et  bons  amis  les  loyaulx  Franxois 
habitons  les  bonnes  villes.2  Always  in  the  vanguard  of  battle 
were  these  ancient  cities  of  France,  always  the  boulevard  of 
the  capital,  yet  the  wars  of  centuries  had  respected  their 
churches.  Future  ages  will  read  of  the  glorification  of  brute 
force  by  the  invaders  who  refused  to  take  pity  on  Soissons, 
Noyon,  and  Rheims,  when  they  stand  before  the  giant 
amorphous  1913  memorial  at  Leipzig.  Therein  speaks  the 
Prussian  purpose  as  distinctly  as,  in  Gothic  cathedrals,  speaks 
the  idealism  that  sent  the  old  and  young  crusading,  and 
spurred  man  on  to  "the  bravest  effort  he  ever  made  to  save 
his  soul." 

Tragic  irreparable  early  churches  of  France!  Like  martyrs 
in  the  arena,  you  have  been  laid  low,  one  after  the  other.  .  .  . 
But  martyrs  leave  undying  memories.  If  loved  before  with 
an  almost  unfair  preference,  you  are  sacred  now.  Rheims, 


1  Congres  Archgologique,  1905,  p.  131,  "Compiegne." 

2  The  people  of  the  Valois  country  cried  "  Noel!"  as  Jeanne  passed.     And  as  she 
rode  between  the  great  Dunois  and  the  archbishop  of  Rheims  she  exclaimed,  with 
emotion:  "  Here  is  a  good  people!     Happy  would  I  be,  when  I  come  to  die,  to  be  laid 
here  to  rest."     "  Know  you  when  you  will  die,  Jeanne?"  said  the  archbishop.     "I 
know  not.     I  am  in  the  hands  of  God,"  she  made  answer.     "  I  would  it  pleased  God, 
my  creator,  that  I  could  go  back  now  to  serve  under  my  father  and  my  mother,  and 
to  keep  their  sheep  with  my  brothers,  who  would  be  right  glad  to  see  me  home." — 
From  the  testimony  of  the  Comte  de  Dunois,  in  1455,  Jeanne's  companion-in-arms 
in  1429. 

77 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Soissons,    Noyon,    and    Senlis — your    names    have    become 
sacramental. 

NOYON  CATHEDRAL1 

Vous  entendrez  rugir  une  de  ces  batailles 

Ou  les  peuples  entiers  se  mordent  aux  entrailles, 

Un  combat  formidable  aux  cris  de'sespe're's, 

Dont  parleront  longtemps  les  hommes  effar£s; 

Car  nous  saurons  de  moins,  si  notre  France  expire, 

Lui  creuser  un  tombeau  plus  large  qu'un  empire. 

— Louis  BOUILHET. 

Most  of  the  cathedrals  of  France  have  an  early  history 
following  the  same  general  lines.  Each  may  be  said  to  have 
passed  through  a  Merovingian  stage,  and  to  have  rebuilt 
itself  larger  and  finer  in  Carolingian  times.2  The  inroads  of 
the  Northmen  pirates  and  the  conflagration  of  timber  roofs 
wrecked  most  of  the  cathedrals,  so  that  a  third  and  often 
a  fourth  reconstruction  went  on  during  the  Romanesque 
era — the  century  and  a  half  that  followed  the  year  1000. 
When  the  evolution  of  Gothic  art  was  accomplished,  there 
were  few  churches  that  were  not  renewed.  It  has  been  said 
that  never  before  had  such  a  noble  frenzy  of  building  seized 
on  mankind. 

In  the  short  biography  traced  here  of  each  cathedral, 
seldom  will  an  account  be  given  of  former  edifices,  but  rather 
the  story  of  each  church  as  it  now  stands.  While  some  portion 
may  be  Romanesque,  it  is  uncommon  to  find  any  Carolingian 
vestige  remaining. 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1905,  p.  170;   E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  Histoire  de  la  cathedrale 
de  Noyon,  (1901);  Vitet  et  Ramee,  Monographic  de  I'eglise  Notre  Dame  de  Noyon  (Paris, 
1845),  2  vols.,  4to  and  folio;   Briere,  Precis  descriptive  et  historique  de  la  cathedrale  de 
Noyon  (1899);   Camilla  Enlart,  Hotels  de  Villes  et  beffrois  du  nord  de  la  France  (Paris, 
H.  Laurens,  1919);  Marcel  Aubert,  Noyon  et  ses  environs  (Paris,  Longuet,  1919). 

2  Noyon  was  made  a  bishopric  in  the  VI  century,  when  St.  Medard  translated  the 
see  from  St.  Quentin,  before  the  advance  of  the  Huns  and  the  Vandals.     St.  Medard 
gave  the  veil  to  Queen  Radegund  in  the  Merovingian  cathedral  of  Noyon.     Two 
Carolingian  cathedrals  stood  in  succession  on  the  site:   in  the  first,  Charlemagne  was 
consecrated  king,  768,  Noyon  being  his  residence  before  Aix-la-Chapelle;  in  the  second 
church,  which  rose  after  a  Norman  sacking,  Hugues  Capet  was  elected  king  shortly 
before  1000 — the  first  monarch  of  the  House  of  Capet,  which  was  to  rule  over  France 
during  seven  hundred  years.     Since  the  Revolution  the  sees  of  Noyon,  Senlis,  and 
Laon  have  been  suppressed. 

78 


The  bishop  of  Noyon  took  the  initiative  set  by  Abbot 
Suger  at  St.  Denis.  He  was  the  first  to  start  a  cathedral  in 
the  new  way  just  as  Noyon  can  boast  that  hers  was  the  first 
communal  charter  of  which  there  is  record.  In  1109  the 
liberal  Bishop  Baudry  granted  the  town  its  franchise,  without 
the  turbulent  scenes  by  which  other  cities  were  to  wrench 
theirs  from  their  feudal  proprietors.  "Know  then,  all  Chris- 
tians, present  and  future,  that  by  advice  of  priests,  knights, 
and  townsman  I  have  established  a  commune  in  Noyon," 
begins  the  bishop's  parchment.  Many  a  neighboring  city 
modeled  its  charter  on  that  of  Noyon. 

The  quiet  towns  on  the  Oise  played  a  precocious  part  in  what 
Gratry  calls  "the  big  historic  effort  at  justice  which  occurred 
in  the  XII  century,  the  strong  will  to  get  out  of  barbaric 
chaos  which  began  our  era,  and  which,  eight  hundred  years 
ago,  started  the  impulses  of  modern  progress."  From  city 
to  city  the  communal  movement  quickened.  France  began 
to  be  covered  by  associations  for  mutual  aid,  and  the  'winning 
of  city  charters  and  the  creation  of  guilds  went  hand  in  hand 
with  the  intellectual  ferment  in  the  schools  and  the  creation 
of  a  national  architecture. 

A  second  Carolingian  cathedral  of  Noyon  was  replaced 
in  the  XI  century  by  a  Romanesque  one  which  was  burned 
in  1131,  when  the  city  was  laid  in  ashes.  At  that  time,  Pope 
Innocent  II  was  visiting  a  lord  of  the  region,  a  cousin  of 
Louis  VII,  and  the  brother  of  the  bishop  of  Noyon,  Simon 
de  Vermandois.  The  pope  wrote  to  various  French  prelates 
enjoining  on  them  to  help  Noyon  in  its  disaster.  Bishop 
Simon  must  have  built  part  of  the  walls  of  the  present  choir, 
but  as  he  accompanied  Louis  VII  on  the  Second  Crusade,  and 
died  in  the  East,  it  was  his  successor,  Bishop  Baudouin  II 
(1148-67),  friend  of  Suger,  friend,  too,  of  St.  Bernard, 
who  really  inaugurated  the  present  cathedral  about  1150. 
He  sacrificed  in  large  part  what  was  already  done  of  Bishop 
Simon's  choir  in  order  to  put  it  into  character  with  the  newly 
expounded  principles  of  architecture.  The  choir  of  St.  Denis 
was  his  direct  model,  and  he  obtained  from  Abbot  Suger 

6  79 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

some  of  bis  masons;  the  profiles  and  ornamentation  at  Noyon 
are  identical  with  those  of  St.  Denis. 

In  1157,  the  relics  of  St.  Eloi,  Noyon's  noted  VH-century 
bishop,  a  skilled  goldsmith  and  prime  minister  for  King 
Dagobert,  were  transferred  to  the  new  sanctuary,  probably 
because  it  was  then  completed.  In  the  time  of  Bishop  Bau- 
douin  III,  who  died  in  1174,  the  transept  was  finished,  as 
well  as  the  bays  of  the  nave  near  it.  Noyon's  western  limb 
rose  during  three  campaigns  of  work,  as  is  indicated  by  dif- 
ferences in  its  details,  but  in  main  part  the  nave  is  a  work  of 
the  final  quarter  of  the  XII  century. 

The  cathedral  was  finished  by  the  westernmost  bay  of  its 
nave,  its  capacious  porch,  and  the  southwest  tower,  under 
Bishop  Etienne  de  Nemours  (1188-1222),  who  had  three  broth- 
ers, also  bishops  and  builders,  at  Paris,  at  Meaux,  and  at 
Chalons,  the  sons,  all  four  of  them,  of  a  lord  chancellor  of 
France.  In  Noyon,  Bishop  Etienne  was  a  sound  adminis- 
trator; he  was  favorable  to  the  municipality,  regulated  the 
town's  moneys,  and  built  a  hospital.  Philippe-Auguste  sent 
him  to  Denmark  to  escort  to  France  the  unfortunate  Princess 
Ingeborg,  who  was  to  be  his  second  wife.  The  bishop  was 
buried  as  a  benefactor  in  the  abbey  of  Ourscamp,  four  miles 
from  Noyon,  farther  down  the  Oise,  which  house  was  a 
foundation  of  Bishop  Simon  de  Vermandois,  though  only 
vestiges  of  its  XH-century  parts  remain.1 

During  the  last  decade  of  the  XIII  century  a  terrible  fire 
raged  for  two  days  in  Noyon  Cathedral.  The  vaulting  through- 
out the  church,  save  in  the  choir  aisle,  had  to  be  reconstructed. 
For  the  sexpartite  system,  which  embraces  two  bays,  and 
has  six  branches  from  the  keystone  of  each  vault  section, 
was  now  substituted  the  barlong  plan,  where  diagonals  cover 

1  The  abbey  church  of  Ourscamp  is  a  ruin,  but  with  the  choir  and  ambulatory  of  the 
end  of  the  XIII  century  partly  standing.  Where  once  were  the  piers  of  the  nave 
have  been  planted  two  rows  of  poplars.  Like  Longpont  and  Royaumont,  it  was  a 
Cistercian  church  that  paid  no  heed  to  St.  Bernard's  strictures  on  lavish  architecture. 
The  former  infirmary  of  the  monastery,  now  used  as  a  factory,  is  one  of  the  most 
graceful  civic  halls  of  the  age  (c.  1240) ;  Peigne-Delacour,  Histoire  de  I'abbaye  de  Notre 
Dame  d'Ourscamp  (1876),  in  4to;  Congres  Archeologique,  1905,  p.  165,  on  Ourscamp. 

80 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

one  bay.  The  early-Gothic  architects  took  up  with  enthusiasm 
the  Normans'  sexpartite  plan,  but  after  using  it  for  half  a 
century  they  most  sensibly  returned  to  the  quadripartite 
system  as  better  suited  to  their  needs.  The  sexpartite  vault 
calls  for  piers  of  alternating  strength,  since  on  the  heavier 
pier  fall  diagonals  and  transverse  arch,  and  only  a  transverse 
arch  on  the  intermediate  pier. 

Noyon  Cathedral  had  from  its  start  planned  for  a  sexpartite 
vault  by  building  its  ground  supports  of  alternating  strength. 
Its  piers,  therefore,  became  illogical  when  a  barlong  vaulting 
was  erected  after  the  fire  of  1193.  And  one  regrets  that  it  has 
not  its  original  stone  roof,  since  the  correlations  in  this  hardy 
first  cathedral  are  elsewhere  very  perfect.  Throughout  the 
church  are  details  of  subtle  charm.  There  is  a  slight  bending 
out,  like  a  horseshoe,  of  the  archivolts  of  the  pier  arcade, 
which  archivolts  are  severely  plain.  Usually  from  the  abacus 
of  a  main  pier  rise  five  clustered  shafts  to  the  level  of  the 
vault-springing,  two  to  catch  the  diagonals,  two  for  the 
longitudinal  or  wall  arches,  and  one  for  the  transverse  arch. 
Noyon  showed  constructive  agility  in  concentrating  its  wall 
ribs  and  diagonals  on  a  single  shaft,  which  meant  only  three 
clustered  colonnettes  from  main  piers  to  vault-springing. 

Each  cathedral  in  France  possesses  a  few  traits  peculiar  to 
itself.  Noyon  is  unique  in  having  both  ends  of  its  transept 
terminate  in  hemicycles,  like  a  Rhenish  church.1  The  Roman- 
esque school  of  the  Rhine  had  derived  the  feature  from  the 
early  chapels  of  Rome.  Probably  Noyon 's  transept  apses 
came  from  retaining  the  foundations  of  the  previous  ca- 
thedral. A  church  which  was  long  in  the  jurisdiction  of 
Noyon — the  cathedral  at  Tournai — still  possesses  its  Roman- 
esque transept  with  semicircular  ends.  Cambrai  Cathedral, 
destroyed  by  the  Revolution,  once  had  a  similar  pre-Gothic 
transept;  its  choir,  built  from  1220  to  1237  in  the  golden 
day  of  the  national  art,  was  an  irreparable  loss.  Noyon 
Cathedral  showed  another  Germanic  trait  in  what  may  be 

1  Camilla  Enlart,  De  ['influence  germanique  dans  les  premiers  monuments  gothiques 
de  la  France,  1902. 

81 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

called  a  western  transept,  made  by  the  lower  stories  of  the 
facade  towers  and  the  middle  section  of  the  first  bay. 

The  nave  of  Noyon  is  a  noble  vessel,  with  an  interior  four- 
story  elevation  of  happier  proportions  than  was  achieved  in 
the  transept.  No  longer  do  annulets  bind  the  clustered  shafts, 
thus  breaking  the  ascending  line  as  in  the  choir.  Throughout 
the  church  is  to  be  found  the  simultaneous  use  of  round  and 
pointed  arches,  and,  curiously  enough,  it  is  the  lower  stories, 
pier  arcade,  and  tribune,  that  used  the  pointed  arch;  in  the 
triforium  and  clearstory  the  arches  are  semicircular.  Every- 
where the  sculptured  capitals  are  of  rare  beauty.  The  Roman- 
esque acanthus  leaf  is  found  in  juxtaposition  with  the  Gothic 
crocket. 

Noyon  is  exceptional  in  having  retained  its  annexes:  the 
treasure  hall  built  by  Bishop  Baudouin  II,  the  chapel  of 
the  episcopal  palace,  a  half-timber  library,  and  a  beautiful 
chapter  house  (c.  1240).  This  latter,  opening  on  a  fragment 
of  the  cathedral  cloister,  is  a  hall  divided  into  two  aisles  by  a 
row  of  slender  pillars,  the  type  preferred  by  the  French, 
whereas  in  England  the  circular  hall  whose  vault  ribs  were 
gathered  on  a  central  pier  was  more  popular.  Noyon's  chapter 
house  was  built  by  Bishop  Pierre  Chalot,  who  died  at  sea,  off 
Cyprus,  on  St.  Louis'  crusade  of  1248. 

When  in  late-Gothic  times  Noyon  was  adding  chapels  and 
side  aisles,  her  master-of- works  was  Jean  Turpin,  who  at 
Peronne — pitiful  Peronne  la  Pucelle  entirely  a  ruin  to-day — 
erected  a  Flamboyant  Gothic  church  which  was  a  veritable 
gem. 

The  battle  of  giants,  foreseen  in  the  poet's  dream,  twice 
engulfed  Noyon  during  the  World  War.  From  the  first  occu- 
pation by  the  enemy  the  city  escaped  without  serious  injury. 
Then  in  March,  1918,  began  the  Germans'  desperate  advance 
on  Paris.  At  the  end  of  the  month  the  mayor  of  Noyon 
quitted  the  city,  the  last  to  leave.  And  in  September  he  was 
the  first  to  re-enter  Noyon  after  the  second  battle  of  the 
Marne  had  driven  back  the  invaders.  He  found  his  town  a 
ruin.  Not  a  single  building  had  escaped  injury,  and  only  ten 


days  earlier  a  photograph  taken  from  a  French  airship  had 
shown  that  the  Renaissance  Town  Hall  and  Noyon's  chief 
square  were  intact;  few  monuments  had  suffered  from  the 
occasional  bombardments  by  the  Allies.  The  Hotel  de 
Ville  had  been  built  in  the  dawn  of  the  classic  Renaissance, 
and  its  fine  fagades  retained  much  of  the  Gothic  spirit. 
Before  their  departure  the  invaders  blew  up  the  town; 
not  even  Calvin's  birthplace  was  spared.  Hardly  10  per 
cent  of  the  houses  of  this  amiable  little  city  that  asked  only 


Noyon's  Chapter  House  (1240-1250) 

to  be  left  unmolested  by  the  fever  and  fret  of  new  things 
are  to-day  worth  reconstruction. 

As  if  by  a  miracle,  the  cathedral  and  a  side  street  named  for 
the  old  goldsmith  bishop,  St.  Elo'i,  were  preserved.  The 
cathedral  roof  is  pierced  by  shells  in  a  dozen  places  and  the 
northern  tower  and  the  porch  between  the  towers  are  smashed, 
but  the  interior  is  but  slightly  damaged.  In  one  of  the  side 
chapels  a  vandal  fired  his  pistol  many  times  at  a  picture  of  the 
Saviour.  Perhaps  it  was  the  memory  that  Noyon's  rounded 
transept  ends  and  forechurch  were  Germanic  which  saved  the 

83 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

cathedral.     Better  is  it  to  remember  by  a  Radegund,  by  a 
Charlemagne,  than  by  Odin  and  Thor. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  SENLIS l 

To-day  analysis  has  seized  on  all  things,  and  it  is  leading  us  to  death. 
Man,  we  must  not  forget,  lives  intellectually  by  synthesis.  ...  If  archae- 
ology is  to  make  known  the  monuments  of  the  past,  it  ought,  before  all 
else,  to  try  to  make  them  loved,  for,  given  the  uncertitude  of  the  future,  it 
is  in  that  love  that  they  will  find  their  only  chance  of  safety. 

— EMILE  LAMBiN.2 

Senlis  was  the  second  begun  of  the  Gothic  cathedrals.  The 
most  fecund  region  for  early  essays  in  the  nascent  national  art 
lay  between  Senlis  and  Noyon.  Thibaut,  bishop  of  Senlis, 
was  present  at  Abbot  Suger's  deathbed  in  1151.  Filled  with 
the  ambition  to  replace  his  half -ruined  church  by  a  Gothic  one, 
he  began,  about  1152,  the  new  works,  and  once  more  the  abbey 
church  of  St.  Denis  was  the  model.  Some  of  Senlis'  original 
vaults  remain  over  side  aisles,  tribune,  and  apse  chapels. 
Their  intersecting  ribs  show  a  certain  inexperience,  and  in 
places  semicircular  diagonals  still  are  used.  The  framing 
arches  of  each  section  are  lower  than  the  keystone  of  the 
diagonals,  which  imparts  a  bombe  shape  to  the  vault.  As  the 
masons  acquired  skill  in  the  making  of  Gothic  stone  roofs, 
this  domical  form  died  out;  by  stilting,  by  depressing,  and  by 
pointing  the  arches  was  the  difficulty  solved.  Like  Noyon, 
Senlis  played  a  part  in  the  early  history  of  France.  The 
Merovingian  and  Carolingian  kings  and  those  of  the  House  of 
Capet  frequented  the  little  city  in  order  to  hunt  in  the  forests 
of  the  Oise.  Louis  VII  made  Senlis  his  favorite  residence, 

1  Marcel  Aubert,  Monograpkie  de  la  calhedrale  de  Senlis  (1907).   He  has  also  described 
Senlis  in  the  collection,  Petites  monographies  (1910);    Congres  Archeologique,   1905, 
p.  89,  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis;    passim,  1877,  vol.  44,  "  L'architecture  dans  le  Valois," 
Anthyme  Saint-Paul;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  A  travers  le  Beauvaisis  et  le  Valois  (1907); 
Emile  Lambin,  "  La  Cathedrale  de  Senlis,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1808,  vol.  47; 
Abbe  Eugene  MUller,  Senlis  et  ses  environs  (1897);  Andre  Hallays,  En  flanant  a  travers 
la  France.     Autour  de  Paris  (Paris,  1910);  G.  Fleury,  Etudes  sur  les  portails  images  du 
XIT  siecle  (Mamers,  Fleury  et  Dangin,  1904) ;   Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France  (Paris, 
1835),  vol.  18,  p.  33,  "Guerin,  eveque  de  Senlis." 

2  Emile  Lambin,  La  Flare  des  grandes  catkedrales  (Paris,  1897). 

84 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

and  when  the  new  cathedral  was  undertaken  he  allowed  dona- 
tions to  be  collected  over  the  entire  kingdom. 

When  Bishop  Thibaut  died,  the  succeeding  prelates,  Henri 
and  Geoffrey,  continued  to  give  largely  of  their  revenues  to  the 
new  works,  but  the  progress  was  slow.  Senlis  was  a  small 
diocese  for  so  big  a  monument.  About  the  time  that  the  choir 
was  finished,  1180,  the  sculpture  of  the  central-western  portal 
was  set  up,  a  gem  of  Primary  Gothic,  though  sadly  damaged  by 
time.  It  marks  a  date  in  French  mediseval  sculpture.  On  the 
lintel  is  related  the  Death  of  the  Virgin  and  her  Assumption,  in 
the  tympanum  her  Coronation.  Senlis  was  the  first  to  use 
this  ordinance  which  the  XIII  century  frequently  repeated; 
we  find  it  at  Chartres'  north  portal,  and  at  the  entrance  under 
the  northwest  tower  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris. 

M.  Emile  Male  with  his  usual  happy  phrasing  speaks  of  the 
lyric  beauty  of  the  lintel  stone  at  Senlis.1  It  was  partly 
inspired  by  the  Golden  Legend  of  the  good  Bishop  James  of 
Genoa,  which  in  its  turn  had  used  the  apocryphal  gospels 
freely.2  The  legend  relates  that  at  the  deathbed  of  Our  Lady, 
the  Apostles  gathered,  and  St.  John  cautioned  them:  "Be 
careful  when  she  is  dead  that  no  one  weeps,  lest  the  people, 
seeing  our  tears,  be  troubled,  and  say,  'They  fear  death,  who 
preach  the  Resurrection.'"  For  three  days  Our  Lady  rested 
in  her  tomb  in  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  then  came  her  Divine 
Son,  with  angels,  singing  the  Canticle  of  Canticles,  to  escort 
her  to  Paradise.  The  old  sculptor  of  Senlis  has  depicted  the 
touching  reverence  with  which  the  angels  bend,  to  lift  from  the 
tomb  their  future  Queen  of  Heaven.  Their  gesture  of  eager 
love  is  one  of  the  exquisitely  delicate  conceptions  of  mediaeval 
sculpture. 

While  they  were  carving  the  west  portal  there  came  to 
Senlis  a  touching  figure,  the  young  mother  of  the  future 
Louis  VIII,  Isabelle,  daughter  of  Baudouin  V  of  Flanders,  who 

1  Emile  Male,  L'art  religieux  en  France  au  XIIIe  siecle  (Paris,  A.  Colin,  1908). 

2  Jacobus  de  Voragine,   The  Golden  Legend.     Translated  into  English  by  Caxton 
and  reprinted  by  William  Morris,  Kelmscott  Press,  1872,  3  vols.     Translated  also  in 
Temple  Classics.     One  of  the  best  recent  French  editions  is  that  of  Theodor  de 
Wyzewa  (Paris,  Perrie  et  Cie,  1909). 

85 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

claimed  direct  descent  from  Charlemagne;  through  her  the 
blood  of  the  Caroligian  line  passed  into  the  third  dynasty  of 
France.  She  was  to  die,  at  nineteen,  almost  repudiated  by 
Philippe-Auguste,  because  her  people  declined  to  support  one 
of  his  projects.  In  Senlis  Cathedral  this  gentle  grandmother  of 
St.  Louis  walked  barefooted,  candle  in  hand,  beseeching  as- 
sistance from  the  Mother  of  God  with  such  humility  that  the 
beholders  wept.  She  founded  a  chapel  in  the  cathedral. 

A  few  years  later,  in  1191,  the  cathedral  of  Senlis  was 
consecrated  by  that  archbishop  of  Sens  who  was  Philippe- 
Auguste's  uncle,  Guillaume  of  Champagne,  William  of  the 
White  Hands,  the  prelate  who  had  completed  the  cathedral 
at  Sens.  And  there  came  to  the  dedication  Bishop  Nivelon 
de  Cherisy,  just  starting  Soissons'  Cathedral;  Bishop  Etienne 
de  Nemours,  at  work  on  Noyon's;  the  prelate  of  Meaux,  who 
was  raising  that  cathedral;  and  many  another  expert  in  the 
new  art.  Sometime  later,  Bishop  Geoffrey  resigned  his  see, 
and  in  his  place  was  elected  Pierre  Guerin,  chancellor  of 
France  under  three  kings,  a  figure  worthy  to  stand  beside 
those  Gallo-Roman  bishops  who  remained  as  bulwarks  of 
society  when  the  Roman  Empire  fell  in  pieces  around  them. 

Bishop  Guerin  was  a  man  possessed  by  a  passion  for  the 
public  weal.  His  prudence  and  firmness  caused  Philippe- 
Auguste  and  Louis  VIII  to  name  him  executor  of  their  testa- 
ments. One  of  his  enterprises  was  the  organizing  of  the 
royal  archives.  It  was  he  who  came  to  Blanche  of  Castile 
to  break  the  news  of  her  husband's  death  as  she  rode  out  from 
Paris  to  meet  Louis  VIII  returning  from  the  southern  war. 
For  Louis  IX  during  his  minority  he  showed  a  father's  affection. 
"He  governed  marvelously  well  the  kingdom's  needs,"  says 
the  old  chronicler,  and  when  he  died,  on  his  grave  they  in- 
scribed, "Here  lies  Guerin,  whose  life  was  an  untiring  work." 

In  early  life  Guerin  had,  in  Palestine,  become  a  Knight 
Hospitalier  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  and,  as  bishop,  continued 
to  wear  the  white  habit  of  that  military  order.  At  the  battle 
of  Bouvines,  though  not  an  actual  combatant,  he  exhorted 
the  troops  and  directed  maneuvers,  for  he  was  skilled  in  the 

86 


strategy  of  war.  A  survey  of  the  enemy's  position  made  him 
urge  Philippe-Auguste  to  attack  at  once,  and  the  king,  who 
knew  Guerin  to  be  sages  horns  et  de  parfont  conseil,  obeyed, 
thus  winning  the  greatest  victory  of  the  century.  "On  that 
day  French  unity  received  its  baptism." 

The  king  had  vowed,  were  his  arms  successful,  to  endow 
an  abbey.  Bishop  Guerin  laid  for  him  the  first  stone  of  the 
Abbaye  de  la  Victoire,  near  his  episcopal  city.1  Before  this 
greatest  of  the  bishops  of  Senlis  died,  his  cathedral  had  begun 
to  crown  its  southwest  tower  by  the  octagon  and  spire  which 
are  the  boast  of  all  the  Valois  country.  St.  Louis  must  have 
contributed  to  Senlis'  famous  tower,  which  places  in  foremost 
rank,  this,  the  smallest  cathedral  in  France.  The  unknown 
architect  gathered  features  from  many  a  beacon  to  unite 
them  here  in  a  masterpiece.  He  may  be  s&id  to  have  created 
a  new  type,  since  his  belfry  at  Senlis  made  a  school  in  the 
region.2 

The  graduation  of  the  upright  shaft  into  the  inclined  plane, 
which  in  every  tower  is  the  crucial  point,  has  here  been  ac- 
complished with  such  address,  such  rhythm,  that  precisely 
at  what  instant  the  fusion  takes  place  is  not  to  be  determined. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  shaft  of  the  tower  is  too  high  in 
proportion  to  its  spire;  at  a  distance  perhaps  the  criticism 
may  seem  justified,  but  not  on  closer  view.  Some  have 
thought  that  Senlis'  belfry  was  a  trifle  too  conscious  of  its 
charms,  that  it  had  not  the  calm  poise  of  Chartres'  tower. 
So  it  may  be;  there  is  more  of  the  woman  than  the  archangel 
in  it.  Its  personal  graciousness  has  become  so  wedded  with 
the  lives  of  Senlis'  townspeople  that  they  wish  it  good  morn- 
ing as  they  pass.  The  voyager  will  not  find  himself  many 

1  The  Church  of  the  Victory,  consecrated  by  the  warrior-bishop  in  1225,  was  ruined 
during  the  Hundred  Years'  War  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford's  troops,  who  day  after  day 
were  pricked  on  by  Jeanne  d' Arc's  army  to  a  battle.  In  Flamboyant  Gothic  times  the 
abbatial  was  rebuilt,  but  again  it  was  wrecked  in  the  XVIII  century.  Only  a  few 
late-Gothic  bays  now  stand  on  the  lawn  before  the  country  house  of  the  Comte  Boula 
de  Coulomier.  Bishop  Guerin  also  consecrated  the  church  of  Chaalis  abbey,  where 
he  was  buried  in  1228.  Chaalis  is  now  a  picturesque  ruin. 

2E.  Lefe\  re-Pontalis,  "Les  clochers  du  XI1P  et  du  XVIe  siecle  dans  le  Beauvaisis 
et  la  Valois,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1905,  p.  592. 

87 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

hours  in  Senlis  without  pausing  at  every  coign  of  vantage 
to  gain  some  new  silhouette  effect  of  the  slender  beacon.  It 
is  charming  when  viewed  in  the  same  group  as  the  Gallo- 
Roman  ramparts.  And  from  the  open  door  of  the  church  of 
St.  Frambourg,1  it  can  be  studied  at  leisure. 

In  the  original  plan  of  Senlis'  Cathedral  there  was  only  an 
indication  of  a  transept — two  small  lateral  chapels  that  open, 
to-day,  from  the  choir  aisle.  When,  about  1240,  the  radiant 
tower  was  finished  they  undertook  to  make  a  real  transept. 
To  insert  one  they  had  to  do  away  with  four  bays  of  the  nave; 
some  ancient  columns  in  the  west  piers  of  the  transept  witness 
to  this  change.  In  its  present  form  the  transept  of  Senlis 
belongs  to  the  XIII  century  only  in  its  lower  walls. 

In  1504  a  conflagration  lasting  several  days  destroyed  the 
cathedral's  upper  vaulting  and  necessitated  the  total  recon- 
struction of  the  clearstory.  In  consequence,  the  exterior  ap- 
pearance of  this  very  early  Gothic  church  is  most  decidedly 
Flamboyant.  Only  the  apse  and  the  west  f agade  have  retained 
their  Primary  Gothic  aspect.  Chapels  with  complicated  pen- 
dant vaults  were  built,  aisles  were  added,  and  balustrades  put 
before  the  tribune  opening.  Thick  coats  of  whitewash  coars- 
ened the  lines;  in  fact,  restorations  have  been  so  radical,  and 
many  of  them  so  over-ornate,  that  this  cathedral  has  been 
called  the  Gothic  of  bad  taste.  An  extreme  criticism,  for  if 
some  of  the  changes  are  distressing,  Senlis'  transept  fagades, 
which  also  are  later  additions,  are  to  be  reckoned  among  the 
best  work  of  the  final  phase  of  the  national  art. 

After  the  fire  of  1504  the  cathedral  chapter  sought  assistance 

1  The  corner  stone  of  St.  Frambourg  was  laid  in  1177  by  Louis  VII.  It  is  a  sort 
of  forerunner  of  the  Sainte-Chapelle  type  of  edifice,  without  aisles  or  transept.  Its 
sober,  pure  lines  show  faultless  constructive  skill,  and  a  grievous  pity  is  its  present 
abandonment.  Behind  the  cathedral  is  the  church  of  St.  Pierre,  built  in  six  different 
epochs:  the  lower  stories  of  the  tower,  XI  century;  the  choir  and  transept,  1260; 
the  piers  of  the  nave  and  the  north  tower's  top  story,  XV  century;  the  rich  fagade, 

XVI  century,  a  work  of  Pierre  Chambiges;   and  the  heavy,  cold  south  tower,  of  the 

XVII  century.     In  Senlis  are  St.  Vincent's  church  with  a  choir  built  after  1136,  a 
Xll-century  tower,  contemporary  of  the  cathedral,  and  a  groin  roof  of  the  XVIII 
century.     St.  Aignan's  belfry  is  of  the  end  of  the  XI  century,  and  served  as  model 
for  the  towers  of  St.  Vincent  and  St.  Pierre,  just  as  all  three  of  them  contributed 
toward  the  inspiration  of  that  sovereign  thing  of  Senlis,  the  cathedral  tower. 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

from  the  king:  "Plaise  au  Roy  d"  avoir  pitie  et  compassion  de  la 
paoure  eglise  de  Senlis  .  .  .  laquelle,  par  fortune  et  inconvenient 
de  feu  a  ete  bruslee,  les  cloches  fondues,  et  le  clocher  qui  est  grant, 
magnifique  et  I'un  des  singuliers  du  royaume,  au  moyen  du 
dit  feu  tellement  endommage  qu'il  est  en  danger  de  tomber." 
Royalty  responded  generously  as  the  sculpture  shows;  at 
the  transept's  portals  are  to  be  seen  the  porcupine  of  Louis 
XII,  the  ermine  of  Anne  of  Brittany,  and  the  salamander  of 
Francis  I. 

Under  the  learned  Bishop  Guillaume  Parvi,  confessor  to 
Francis  I,  was  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  transept's  elaborate 
south  fagade  in  1521.  On  it  worked  Pierre  de  Chambiges,  son 
of  the  noted  maker  of  late-Gothic  frontispieces,  and  Jean 
Dixieult.  And  when  it  was  nearing  completion  in  1560  the 
north  fagade  was  begun,  and  finished  by  the  latter  master. 

Effective,  vivid,  alertly  handsome  are  Senlis'  transept 
fronts.  The  wise  traveler,  even  if  he  infinitely  prefers  the 
purer  lines  of  early  Gothic,  will  learn  to  value  this  florid  final 
expansion  of  the  national  art.  The  renewal  of  builders'  energy 
in  the  XV  and  XVI  centuries  was  a  sumptuous  phase  worthy 
of  admiration.  Those  who  are  partial  to  English  Gothic  do 
not  need  to  be  warned  against  depreciating  French  Flamboyant 
work.  The  advice  to  be  eclectic  in  travel,  so  as  not  to  lose  any 
source  of  artistic  pleasure,  is  for  those  whose  ideal  of  the 
builders'  art  is  that  of  the  Ile-de-France,  comprised  between 
1150  and  1250.  For  such  the  chief  interest  of  Senlis  will  be 
the  cathedral's  apse,  its  main  facade,  and  the  splendid  tower. 
Let  them  widen  their  sympathies  and  take  in  the  effective 
transept-fronts  of  the  Flamboyant  rebirth. 

Senlis  of  the  towers,  of  the  silent  squares,  of  the  quaint  names 
—rue  des  Fromages,  rue  du  Puits-Tiphane,  rue  des  Pigeons 
Blancs — a  charming  aristocratic  little  city,  set  in  an  undulating 
Corot-like  landscape,  dotted  with  country  houses,  was  the 
very  epitome  of  well-conditioned  provincial  life.  Before  the 
summer  of  1914  no  spot  on  earth  seemed  farther  removed  from 
violence  and  crime.  Then  came  the  invading  hordes  over  the 
Valois  land.  On  September  2,  1914,  the  Germans  surrounded 

89 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Senlis,  which,  mile  ouverte  though  it  was,  they  proceeded  to 
bombard.  One  third  of  the  obus  that  fell  hit  the  cathedral. 
That  the  guns,  three  miles  away,  were  pointed  on  the  famous 
tower  would  seem  to  be  proved  by  the  fact  that  only  those 
houses  were  damaged  which  lay  in  the  direct  line  between  the 
German  battery  and  Notre  Dame. 

When  the  enemy  entered  the  city  the  mayor  (shot  later  in 
reprisal)  met  them  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  He  had  scarcely 
assured  them  that  no  troops  remained  in  Senlis  when  shots 
rang  out:  by  ill  luck  some  colonial  colored  troops,  on  retiring, 
fired  a  salute.  Thereupon  followed  the  usual  accusation  that 
civilians  were  the  combatants,  and  the  usual  tragic  scenes  of 
reprisal.  Down  the  main  street  of  the  little  city  passed  the 
trained  wreckers  of  peaceful  homes,  prying  open  the  doors  to 
throw  in  incendiary  bombs.  Before  night  a  whole  section  of 
Senlis  lay  an  unsightly  blackened  ruin.  .  .  .  Then  came  the 
victory  of  the  Marne  and  the  invaders  retreated.  The  havoc 
done  to  the  cathedral  can  be  repaired,  though,  in  the  process, 
must  be  lost  the  exquisite  golden  lichen  stain  which  long  ages 
had  achieved.  The  preservation  of  Senlis'  tower  was  due  to  a 
cure  of  the  cathedral  who  fearlessly  pleaded  for  his  church 
before  the  German  commandant. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  SENS1 

What  were  Rheims  and  Soissons  before  their  martyrdom  but  the  trans- 
figuring of  stone  and  metal  and  wood;  dead  matter  delved  from  the  ground 
or  hewn  out  of  the  forest,  through  the  labor  of  man  exalted  into  forms  of 
absolute  beauty,  and,  because  of  this  loving  labor,  transformed  .  .  .  into 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1907,  p.  205,  Charles  Poree;  E.  Chartraire,  La  cathSdrale 
de  Sens  (Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1920);  E.  Berard,  "  La  cathedrale 
de  Sens,"  in  L' Architecture,  1902;  E.  Vaudin-Bataille,  La  cathedrale  de  Sens  (Paris, 
1899);  Bouvier,  Histoire  de  I'eglise  de  I'ancien  archdiocese  de  Sens  (Paris,  1906);  A. 
de  Montaiglon,  Antiquites  de  Sens  (Paris,  1881);  A.  J.  de  H.  Bushnell,  Storied  Windows- 
(New  York,  Macmillan,  1914);  A.  F.  Didot,  "Jean  Cousin,  peintre  verrier,"  in  Bul- 
letin Monumental,  1873,  vol.  39,  p.  75;  Marius  Vachon,  Une  famille  parisienne  d'archi- 
tectes  maistre-magons:  les  Chambiges;  Crosnier,  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1847,  "Ico- 
nographie  des  portails  de  Sens";  Viollet-le-Duc,  Dictionnaire,  vol.  9,  pp.  222,  506; 
vol.  8,  p.  74  (on  the  synodal  hall);  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France,  vol.  15,  p.  324, 
"Michel  de  Corbeil,  archeveque  de  Sens";  p.  524,  "Guillaume  de  Champagne,  car- 
dinal, archeveque  de  Rheims"  (Paris,  1820);  vol.  17,  p.  223,  "Pierre  de  Corbeil" 
(Paris,  1832);  vol.  18,  p.  270,  "Gautier  de  Cornut,  archeveque  de  Sens"  (Paris,  1835). 

90 


Senlis'  Tower  (c.  1230-1250} 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

a  mysterious  creation  that,  in  the  words  of  Suger  of  St.  Denis,  was  neither 
wholly  of  earth  nor  wholly  of  Heaven,  but  a  mysterious  blending  of  both. 

—  RALPH  ADAMS  CRAM.1 

Sens  was  a  chief  Celtic  city  at  the  intersecting  of  the  Roman 
roads  from  Lyons  to  Paris,  from  Orleans  to  Troyes.  Long  did 
it  dispute  the  title  of  primate  of  Gaul  with  Lyons  and  Rheims; 
even  down  to  the  XVI  century  Paris  was  within  its  jurisdiction. 
To-day  as  the  express  trains  rush  by  from  Paris  to  Marseilles, 
many  a  traveler  looks  out  on  a  cathedral  that  seems  to  over- 
tower  and  overpower  a  flat,  sleepy  little  town  whose  name  he 
scarcely  knows.  When  the  cathedral  was  building  in  the 
XII  century  Sens  was  a  center  of  the  nation's  life,  and  under  a 
succession  of  noteworthy  archbishops  reached  its  zenith. 

Here  at  the  Council  of  Sens,  in  1140,  was  scheduled  to  take 
place  a  final  contest  between  St.  Bernard  and  Abelard,  and  in 
that  hour  of  enthusiasm  over  abstract  controversy,  the  king 
with  his  court  and  people  of  every  degree  flocked  to  Sens  for 
the  schoolmen's  debate  on  the  Trinity.  At  the  last  moment 
Abelard,  the  inexhaustible  arguer  who  had  himself  called  for 
the  test,  quitted  the  combat.  Some  twenty  years  later  Pope 
Alexander  III  spent  a  year  and  a  half  in  Sens,  and  hither 
came  Thomas  Becket  to  seek  papal  indorsement  for  his  oppo- 
sition to  Henry  II's  interference  in  church  affairs.  Between 
these  two  events,  1140  to  1164,  lies  the  building  of  Sens 
Cathedral.  At  the  time  of  Abelard's  and  St.  Bernard's  visit 
the  present  edifice  had  been  started.  During  the  residence 
here  of  Alexander  III  and  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  it 
was  nearing  completion.  The  pope  is  recorded  as  dedicating 
an  altar. 

For  a  time  Sens  usurped  the  claim  to  be  the  oldest  of  the 
Gothic  cathedrals.  Its  choir  was  started  as  Romanesque,  but 
the  walls  rose  slowly,  and  before  a  stone  roof  crowned  the 
ambulatory  the  new  system  of  building  had  conquered  public 
opinion.  The  choir-aisle  walls,  intended  to  carry  a  groin 
vault,  were  rearranged  to  bear  one  with  diagonals.  On  the 

1  Ralph  Adams  Cram,  Gold,  Frankincense,  and  Myrrh  (Boston,  Marshall  Jones 
Company,  1919). 

91 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

outer  wall  the  diagonals  were  caught  on  corbels  placed  above 
the  capitals,  and  though  such  an  arrangement  shows  mala- 
droitness,  the  ribs  themselves  were  made  by  no  novice  hand. 
Sens  was  a  pioneer  in  the  use  of  the  broken  rib  to  avoid  the 
curving  of  diagonals:  from  each  keystone,  set  precisely  in  the 
center  of  each  section,  branched  the  four  ribs. 

The  walls  of  the  procession  path  and  an  apsidal  chapel 
opening  on  the  transept's  north  arm,  are  the  oldest  parts  of 
Sens  Cathedral.  It  is  true  that  they  antedate  the  dedication 
of  St.  Denis,  but  not  by  a  few  Romanesque  vestiges  can  Sens 
substantiate  its  claim  to  be  the  first  built  of  Gothic  cathedrals. 
In  its  main  parts  it  belongs  to  the  third  quarter  of  the  XII 
century.  It  \vas  a  distinct  advance  on  Noyon  and  Senlis, 
because  it  eliminated  the  deep  tribunes  over  the  side  aisles. 
One  of  the  striking  characteristics  of  Sens  is  the  way  that 
light  floods  it  from  the  aisle  windows,  which  are  on  a  noble 
scale.  Because  the  church  was  built  during  a  tentative  hour 
its  deficiency  lies  in  the  height  of  the  central  nave.  For  right 
proportion,  when  flanked  by  such  lofty  aisles,  the  nave  should 
have  been  made  considerably  higher. 

Sens  Cathedral  was  begun  by  Archbishop  Henri-le-Sanglier 
(1122-43)  to  replace  a  church  dedicated  at  the  end  of  the 
X  century.  Such  strides  has  mediaeval  archaeology  taken  in 
France  during  the  last  generations,  it  is  hard  to  believe  that 
serious  students,  during  the  Congres  Archeologique  held  at 
Sens  in  1840,  could  have  considered  the  present  edifice  to  be 
the  one  dedicated  before  1000. 

Henri-le-Sanglier  had  been  appointed  by  Louis  VI  to  the 
see  of  Sens  before  he  had  received  holy  orders,  and  in  the 
lax  spiritual  standards  of  the  day,  he  saw  no  harm  in  living 
like  the  feudal  lord  he  was  by  birth.  He  had  not  Thomas  of 
Canterbury's  unbending  consistency.  When  his  worldliness 
was  censured  by  St.  Bernard  he  changed  his  way  of  life,  and 
ultimately  proved  himself  a  loyal  and  humane  pastor. 

Of  the  six  archbishops  who  were  to  follow  him  as  builders 
of  Sens'  metropolitan  church,  all  of  them  were  national 
figures.  Under  the  long  rule  of  Hugues  de  Toucy  (1143-68) 


92 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

the  church  was  mainly  erected.  He  was  the  friend  of  Abbot 
Suger  the  pioneer,  the  friend,  too,  of  Bernard  the  regenerator, 
who  came  as  his  guest  to  Sens,  after  preaching  the  Second 
Crusade  at  Vezelay.  The  same  hospitable  bishop  welcomed 
on  two  occasions  the  exiled  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The 
second  visit  of  St.  Thomas  Becket  was  when  he  had  been 
forced  to  quit  the  abbey  of  Pontigny,  situated  close  by  over 
the  Burgundian  border,  because  Henry  Plantagenet  swore  to 
close  every  Cistercian  house  in  his  English  and  French  domains 
if  further  refuge  were  offered  the  prelate.  Moved  by  the 
welcome  given  him  in  his  distress  by  the  archbishop  of  Sens, 
the  famous  Englishman  cried  out — so  his  secretary,  Herbert  of 
Bosham,  records:  "Ah,  we  have  proved  the  truth  of  the  old 
saying — 'douce  France!  6  douce  encore,  6  tres  douce  France! 
Oui,  elle  est  douce,  vraiment  douce,  la  France!" 

By  a  series  of  logical  inferences  the  name  of  the  architect  of 
this  Primary  Gothic  cathedral  has  been  added  to  the  roll  call 
of  honor.  It  is  known  that  Guillaume  de  Sens,  a  French 
master,  was  chosen  in  1174  by  the  chapter  of  Canterbury  to 
rebuild  their  cathedral,  destroyed  by  fire.  He  drew  the  plan 
of  Canterbury  and  had  put  up  its  apse,  its  Lady  chapel,  and 
two  bays  of  the  choir,  when  one  day  he  fell  fifty  feet  from  a 
scaffold,  and  returned,  in  1180,  to  his  native  land  to  die.  An 
English  architect,  also  named  William,  continued  the  works  at 
Canterbury,  always  on  the  plan  of  French  William. 

Now  the  chevet  of  Canterbury  has  strong  analogies  with  that 
of  Sens.  There  is  the  same  single  chapel  in  its  axis;  at  Sens 
other  apse  chapels  were  added  in  the  XVI  and  XVIII  centuries. 
The  profiles  were  alike  in  both  cathedrals,  and  so  were  the 
sexpartite  vaulting  and  the  embryo  transept.  In  both  Canter- 
bury and  Sens  is  an  exceptional  feature,  of  Champagne  origin, 
which  could  hardly  have  been  used  accidentally  by  two  men 
in  the  same  generation.  Each  alternate  pier,  at  Sens,  consists 
of  twin  columns,  placed  side  by  side  according  to  the  width, 
not  the  length,  of  the  church.  At  Canterbury,  despite  sub- 
sequent rebuildings,  the  same  arrangement  is  still  to  be  found 
in  the  bay  before  the  sanctuary. 

93 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Guillaume  de  Sens  was  too  prominent  to  have  copied  an- 
other man's  work,  and  since  it  is  certain  that  the  plan  of 
Canterbury  is  his,  it  is  now  accepted  that  he  built  the  cathedral 
of  his  native  town  before  he  proceeded  to  England.  The 
homogeneous  choir  and  nave  of  Sens  show  that  they  are  the 
work  of  the  years  preceding  1175.  And  Guillaume's  claim  to 
be  Sens'  architect  is  further  strengthened  by  a  historic  link. 
Not  only  did  Thomas  Becket  spend  three  'weeks  with  Arch- 
bishop Hugues  de  Toucy  on  li^s  first  arrival  in  the  city  during 
the  pope's  stay  there,  but,  after  quitting  Pontigny,  he  passed 
some  years  in  St.  Colombe  monastery  by  the  town.  Without 
a  doubt  he  knew  the  master-of-works  who  was  erecting 
the  cathedral,  and  it  may  have  been  he  who,  on  his  return 
to  his  own  see,  made  the  French  architect's  skill  known 
to  his  cathedral  chapter.  Guillaume  was  not  called  to 
Canterbury,  however,  till  after  the  martyrdom  of  its  great 
archbishop. 

Sens  Cathedral  was  completed  by  a  prince  of  the  reigning 
house  of  Champagne,  a  son  of  Thibaut  the  Great,  Archbishop 
Guillaume-of-the-WThite-Hands  (1168-76).  He,  too,  was 
Becket's  stanch  supporter,  and  denounced  his  murder  to  the 
pope,  though  by  blood  he  was  Henry  II's  cousin.  In  1178 
he  crossed  to  England  to  pray  by  the  tomb  of  the  newly 
canonized  saint — one  of  the  first  of  the  Canterbury  Pilgrims 
who  for  over  three  hundred  years  were  to  wend  their  way  to  the 
shrine  in  Kent.  Through  his  influence,  Becket's  friend  and 
adviser,  John  of  Salisbury,  the  ablest  scholar  of  his  generation, 
was  raised  to  the  see  of  Chartres.  Both  William  of  Champagne 
and  John  of  Salisbury  received  episcopal  consecration  from  the 
hands  of  good  Maurice  de  Sully,  the  builder  of  Paris  Cathedral. 
In  his  later  life  Archbishop  Guillaume  was  transferred  to  the 
see  of  Rheims,  and  in  that  cathedral  he  anointed  as  king 
his  own  nephew,  Philippe-Auguste,  whose  prime  minister  he 
was;  when  Philippe  II  went  on  the  Third  Crusade  he  left  as 
regents  his  uncle  and  his  mother,  Alix  of  Champagne.  The 
archbishop's  affection  for  his  nephew  led  him  to  sanction  the 
king's  divorce  from  Ingeborg  of  Denmark  and  his  marriage 

04 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

to  Agnes  of  Meran,  which  drew  on  France  the  papal  interdict, 
and  on  William  of  Champagne  the  censures  of  Innocent  III. 

The  house  occupied  by  Thomas  Becket,  in  the  cloister  of 
Sens  Cathedral,  was  decorated  by  a  statue  of  him,  which  dis- 
appeared during  the  Revolution.  During  excavations  in  the 
cloister,  in  1899,  they  came  upon  an  image  representing  a 
bishop,  and  marked  with  the  seal  of  Archbishop  Guillaume-of- 
the- White-Hands.  The  statue  is  now  set  up  in  the  choir  aisle 
on  the  site  where  once  stood  an  altar  dedicated  to  St.  Thomas 
of  Canterbury. 

The  tutelary  of  Sens  Cathedral  is  St.  Stephen,  the  first 
martyr.  A  Xll-century  statue  at  the  trumeau,  or  central 
shaft,  of  the  west  door  presents  him  as  the  beautiful  youthful 
servant  of  the  Lord.  Gazing  at  it  one  thinks  of  St.  Augustine's 
words:  "The  Church  would  never  have  had  St.  Paul  but  for 
St.  Stephen's  prayer."  Paul,  holding  the  robes  of  those  who 
stoned  Stephen,  heard  the  martyr  pray  for  his  executioners. 
The  trumeau  statue  of  St.  Etienne  with  its  parallel  feet 
marks  the  transition  from  the  column  image,  such  as  those 
at  Chartres'  western  portal,  to  the  XIH-century  type  of 
saintly  personages  at  the  doors  of  Rheims  and  Amiens. 
It  escaped  mutilation  during  the  Revolution  because  some 
one  had  the  wit  to  write  on  the  stone  tablet  in  the  saint's 
hand,  The  Book  of  the  Law.  The  foliage  relief  on  the  shaft  is 
exquisite. 

As  the  XII  century  closed  the  archbishop  of  Sens  was 
Michel  de  Corbeil  (1194-99),  a  well-known  scholastic  writer. 
Under  him  and  Pierre  de  Corbeil  (d.  1222),  his  successor  and 
also  a  learned  teacher  from  the  Paris  schools,  the  axis  chapel 
at  Sens  was  rebuilt,  and  the  upper  vaulting  of  choir  and  nave 
reconstructed  in  order  to  enlarge  the  windows.  As  the 
longitudinal  or  wall  arches  were  now  raised  to  the  level  of  the 
keystone,  the  bombe  shape  of  the  vault  disappeared;  in  the 
chevet  the  wall  ribs  show  as  many  as  three  sets  of  capitals. 
The  vault  sections  of  the  side  aisles,  however,  remained  domi- 
cal, as  originally  built. 

Two  other  distinguished  brothers,  men  of  great  lineage  and 

95 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

intellectual  attainment,  ruled  the  see  of  Sens  during  many 
years,  Gautier  de  Cornut  from  1222  to  1241  and  Gilles  de 
Cornut,  who  died  in  1254;  and  they  had  a  brother  who 
busied  himself  with  the  new  cathedral  at  Beauvais.  Gautier 
de  Cornut,  who  while  doctor  of  law  in  Paris  University  served 
as  chaplain  to  Philippe-Auguste  and  Louis  VIII,  was  the 
envoy  sent  in  1234  to  fetch  Marguerite  of  Provence  to  be 
married  to  Louis  IX  in  Sens  Cathedral,  the  king  then  being 
in  his  twentieth  year.  The  young  princess  of  the  art-loving 
Midi  came  north  accompanied  by  a  troop  of  minstrels.  Again 
in  1239  St.  Louis  returned  to  Sens  for  the  Crown  of  Thorns, 
on  its  transit  from  Venice  to  Paris,  and  he  walked  out  some 
miles  from  the  city  to  meet  it.  Barefooted,  he  and  his 
brother,  Robert  of  Artois,  bore  back  the  previous  relics 
to  the  cathedral,  through  streets  hung  with  tapestries  and 
lighted  by  candles.  The  relic  rested  in  St.  Etienne's  church 
all  night  and  then  in  a  solemn,  eight-day  procession  was 
carried  to  Paris.  The  king  had  the  archbishop  write  the 
formal  account  of  it  all.  Gautier  de  Cornut  erected  the 
synodal  hall  which  touches  the  cathedral's  fagade,  and  his 
own  statue  and  that  of  the  young  king  decorated  its  but- 
tresses. The  best  civic  monument  of  St.  Louis'  reign  many 
think  it  to  be,  and  as  perfect  in  its  own  way  as  the  hospital 
hall  at  Ourscamp,  its  contemporary. 

In  1267  the  cathedral's  southwrest  tower  fell;  it  may  have 
been  one  built  in  Carolingian  times  from  the  proceeds  of  a  gold 
retable,  or  it  may  have  been  a  Xll-century  tower  of  Arch- 
bishop Hugues  de  Toucy's  time,  as  are  the  two  lower  stories 
of  the  present  northwest  tower.  Its  fall  necessitated  the  re- 
making of  the  last  two  bays  of  the  nave  and  of  the  damaged 
western  doors  during  the  early  XIV  century.  The  side  chapels 
were  built  then,  too,  but  they  have  been  rehandled  in  the 
present  day,  and  are  now  dissimulated  behind  an  arcaded  wall. 
A  record  of  1319  speaks  of  the  able  Nicholas  de  Chaumes  as 
architect  here  before  he  proceeded  to  Meaux  Cathedral.  He 
demolished  the  ancient  chapel  on  the  transept's  southern 

arm,  but  its  corresponding  chapel,  on  the  transept's  north- 

yu 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

ern  arm,  still  exists  and  is,  with  the  ambulatory  walls,  the 
oldest  part  of  the  church.  Not  till  after  the  Hundred 
Years'  War,  however,  was  the  plan  to  erect  a  new  transept 
carried  through. 

Sens  then  possessed  as  its  archbishop,  during  forty  years,  the 
energetic  Tristan  de  Salazar  (d.  1519)  who  had  fought,  sword 
in  hand,  with  Louis  XII  in  the  Italian  wars.  Like  Bishop 
Jacques  d'Amboise,  who  was  then  finishing  at  Paris  the  present 
Musee  Cluny  as  town  house  for  his  abbey  of  Cluny,  Archbishop 
de  Salazar  built  the  Hotel  Sens  in  Paris  for  his  diocesan  house. 
To  his  own  cathedral  he  added  the  southwest  tower's  upper 
story  (to  which  later  a  Renaissance  lantern  was  attached)  and 
he  connected  the  synodal  hall  with  the  episcopal  palace  by  a 
rich  gallery.  Some  sculptured  panels  now  attached  to  a  pier 
in  the  nave  of  Sens  Cathedral  originally  formed  part  of  a  tomb 
he  had  made  for  his  parents.  It  was  this  munificent  art 
patron  who  began  the  late-Gothic  transept.  In  1490  the  most 
notable  architect  of  the  day,  Martin  Chambiges,  was  invited 
to  direct  the  work,  and  for  four  years  he  gave  it  his  personal 
supervision  until  called  to  Troyes  to  make  the  Flamboyant 
Gothic  facade  of  that  cathedral. 

Sens  Cathedral  contains  some  ancient  windows,  four  of  which 
are  among  the  best  in  France  and  allied  with  Suger's  school, 
though  probably  executed  as  the  XIII  century  opened,  since 
the  saddle  bars  follow  the  outline  of  the  medallion  pictures. 
Those  four  exceptional  windows  of  the  choir  aisle  sparkle 
with  the  jeweled  intensity  of  the  golden  age  of  the  vitrine  art. 
In  one  of  them  is  told  the  story  of  St.  Eustace,  often  to  be  met 
with  in  French  iconography,  since  he  figured  in  the  Golden 
Legend.  Another  describes  the  return  to  England  of  Thomas 
Becket  and  his  immediate  martyrdom.  Originally  next  to  it 
hung  a  companion  lancet,  giving  Becket's  early  life,  but  this  was 
done  away  with  to  make  room  for  a  chapel.  The  other  two 
lancets  are  of  the  Biblia  Pauperum  type.  In  one,  the  parable 
of  the  Prodigal  Son  is  given.  In  the  other  is  the  story  of  the 
Good  Samaritan,  and  the  half  medallions  on  either  side  of 
each  central  scene  interpret  it  symbolically.  Such  correlatiop 

97 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament  was  most  popular  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  Beside  a  medallion  which  shows  the  traveler 
fallen  among  thieves  stands  the  expulsion  of  Adam  and  Eve 
from  the  Garden  of  Eden;  and  the  scene  of  the  charitable 
Samaritan  is  accompanied  by  pictures  of  the  Saviour's  death 
and  resurrection.  They  might  not  be  able  to  write  and  read, 
the  ordinary  men  and  women  of  that  day,  they  had  no  daily 
journal  to  crowd  their  minds  with  half-digested  facts,  but 
their  souls  were  fed  by  sound  ethical  truths  set  forth  clearly 
in  their  one  great  book,  the  cathedral.  The  artisan  donors  of 
such  windows  we  may  be  sure  knew  the  symbolic  meaning  of 
every  panel. 

In  the  clearstory  windows  at  the  curve  of  Sens'  choir  is 
more  XHI-century  glass,  but  it  is  later  work,  lacking  the 
marvelous  glow  of  the  choir-aisle  lancets.  The  two  big 
roses  of  the  transept  are  splendid.  A  celestial  concert  was 
then  a  favorite  theme.  The  south  rose  (1500)  was  made 
by  the  same  Champagne  artists,  Lyenin,  Varin,  Verrat,  and 
Godon  who  filled  the  nave  of  Troyes  Cathedral  with  its  high- 
colored  translucent  woodcuts.  The  north  rose  of  the  transept 
finished  in  1504,  was  the  work  of  native  masters,  influenced 
by  the  noted  school  of  Troyes.  The  side  windows  in  Sens' 
Flamboyant  transept  are  equally  good.1 

Jean  Cousin,  born  in  Sens,  1501,  made  two  of  the  cathe- 
dral's windows,  the  rich  one  of  St.  Eutropius,  in  the  nave, 
and  the  Tiburtine  sibyl  of  amplest  design,  in  the  shrine  to 
the  south  of  the  axis  chapel.  Nothing  could  be  more  re- 
splendent as  picture  windows,  but  Gothic-Renaissance  work, 
whose  tendency  was  to  treat  each  light  as  an  isolated  picture, 
is  not  equal  to  the  close-woven  patterns  of  XII-  and  XHI- 
century  mosaic  glass,  which  kept  itself  in  subordination  to 
its  architectural  setting.  The  immense  superiority  of  the 
earlier  windows  is  demonstrated  in  Sens  Cathedral,  which 
offers  us  both  types  at  their  best. 

1  At  St.-Julien-du-Sault,  fourteen  miles  from  Sens,  are  over  a  dozen  good  XIII- 
century  windows,  and  some  four  of  the  XVI  century.  St.  Louis  was  a  donor.  In 
the  window  devoted  to  Ste.  Genevieve  are  interesting  XVI-century  costumes. 

98 


The  Interior  of  Laon  Cathedral  (XII  Century}.     View 
from  the  Tribune  Gallery 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  LAON  * 

And  I  saw  the  holy  city,  the  new  Jerusalem,  coming  down  out  of  heaven 
from  God,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband. — Apoc.  xxi:2,  used 
in  the  office  for  the  dedication  of  a  church. 

While  Sens,  Noyon,  and  Senlis  were  building,  the  splendid 
cathedral  of  Laon  was  begun,  about  1160.  The  usual  tran- 
sition features  of  Primary  Gothic  showed  in  its  retention  of 
tribunes  over  the  side  aisles,  in  the  simultaneous  use  of  round 
and  pointed  arches,  the  beringed  colonnettes,  and  the  salient 
transept  arms.  The  chapel,  in  two  stories,  that  opened  on 
each  arm  of  the  transept,  was  another  Romanesque  tradition. 

The  interior  of  Laon,  "the  cathedral  of  Purity,  Silence, 
and  Power,"  is  indeed  most  impressive.  One  bay  follows 
another  with  a  regularity  that  is  accentuated  by  the  interior 
elevation  being  in  four  stories — pier  arcade,  tribune  arches, 
triforium  wall  arcade,  and  clearstory.  It  is  not  a  lofty  church, 
but,  like  English  cathedrals,  what  it  lacks  in  height  is  com- 
pensated for  in  length.  There  are  eleven  bays  in  the  nave, 
and  ten  in  the  choir.  Moreover,  because  it  was  comparatively 
low  it  could  build  a  square  transept-crossing  tower,  and 
the  average  French  cathedral  was  too  high  for  such  a  tower 
to  be  artistic.  Laon  and  Braine  were  exceptions  among 
Ile-de-France  churches  in  having  central  lanterns;  they 
were  derived  from  Normandy,  since  the  Rhenish  lantern 
usually  was  octagonal.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  say  of  the 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1911,  Lucien  Broche,  p.  158,  the  cathedral;  p.  225,  St. 
Martin's  church;  p.  239,  the  Templar's  church;  Chanoine  A.  Bouxin,  La  cathedrale 
Notre  Dame  de  Laon.  Histoire  et  description  (Laon,  1902);  Jules  Quicherat,  "L'age 
de  la  cathedrale  de  Laon"  in  Bibliotheque  de  VEcole  des  chartes,  1874,  vol.  35,  p.  249; 
Lucien  Broche,  Laon  et  ses  environs  (Caen,  1913);  ibid.,  "L'eveche  de  Laon,"  in 
Bulletin  Monumental,  1902,  vol.  66;  De  Florival  et  Midoux,  Les  vitraux  de  la  cathedrale 
de  Laon  (Paris,  Didron,  1882),  folio;  E.  Fleury,  Anliquites  et  monuments  du  departe- 
ment  de  I'Aisne,  (1879),  vol.  3,  p.  153;  Emile  Lambin,  Les  eglises  de  I' Ile-de-France 
(Paris,  1906).  His  description  of  Laon  is  also  in  the  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1901-02, 
vols.  14,  15,  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "Les  influences  normandes  an  XP  ct  au  XIP  siecle 
dans  le  nord  de  la  France,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1906,  vol.  70;  Histoire  lilleraire 
de  la  France,  vol.  10,  p.  171,  "Anselm  de  Laon"  (Paris,  1756);  vol.  11,  p.  243,  "St. 
Norbert"  (Paris,  1759);  vol.  13,  p.  511,  "Gautier  de  Mortagne,  eveque  de  Laon" 
(Paris  1814);  H,  Havard,  ed  La  France  artistique  et  monumentale,  vol.  4,  p.  81, 
Mgr.  Dehaisnes,  on  Laon 

99 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

most  prominent,  most  open,  and  best-lighted  part  of  a  church, 
there  is  a  blessed  seclusion  beneath  the  wide  white  tower 
of  Laon  that  "shuts  the  heart  up  in  tranquillity." 

Down  the  long  church,  the  stout  monolithic  piers  make 
two  virile  lines.  Only  during  a  short  period  were  such  sturdy 
cylinders  used,  here  and  in  Notre  Dame  at  Paris  are  the 
chief  examples,  and  both  cathedrals  were  artistically  right 
in  preferring  their  uniform  columns,  even  though  both  of 
them  used  the  sexpartite  vaulting  that  called  for  alternating 
ground  supports.  The  coming  cathedrals  were  to  adopt 
once  for  all  the  barlong  system  of  vaulting,  where  the  con- 
centration of  loads  fell  equally  on  every  bay,  and  to  evolve 
a  classic  type  of  pier,  consisting  of  a  central  cylinder  flanked 
by  four  semi-attached  columns.  At  Laon  a  few  piers  in  the 
nave  experimented  with  free-standing  colonnettes,  three 
of  which  were  placed  in  front  of  the  pillar  to  enlarge,  there, 
the  abacus  of  the  capital  on  which  stood  the  shafts  that  mounted 
to  the  vault-springing.  The  elliptical  piers  of  Beauvais, 
longer  from  north  to  south,  were  to  be  the  most  perfect  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  of  ground  supports. 

There  is  no  denying  that  Laon's  interior  is  to-day  too 
white,  but  we  must  remember  that  originally  color  was  used 
on  the  stones,  so  that  any  effect  of  a  hall  would  have  been 
impossible  in  the  olden  times.  Viollet-le-Duc  called  Laon 
the  laic  cathedral  par  excellence.  He  considered  it  a  great 
civic  hall  wherein  the  populace  "could  unite  and  enjoy  spec- 
tacles more  or  less  profane."  And  even  in  the  flat  eastern 
wall  he  found  something  occultly  heretical.  The  towers, 
he  said,  were  more  those  of  a  chateau  than  a  church.  He 
shut  his  mind  to  the  fact  that  Laon  was  erected  largely  by 
its  bishops,  that  it  was  begun  by  the  choir  end,  which  is  suit- 
able only  for  divine  service,  and  that  if  its  seven  towers  had 
been  crowned  with  the  sky-pointing  spires  of  the  architect's 
plan,  and  if  its  sky-dreaming  windows  were  still  intact,  there 
would  be  little  of  the  aspect  of  a  town  hall  about  this  stately 
church.  Critics  like  Huysmans  have  exaggerated  its  present 

iciness:    no  one  can  pray  in  Laon,  he  exclaimed;  its  soul  is 

100 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

fled  forever.  But  what  woujd  be  Chartres,  his  spot  of  elec- 
tion for  prayer,  were  it  unsoftened  by  its  "storied  windows 
richly  dight"? 

Only  a  slight  amount  of  ancient  glass  has  survived  in  Laon. 
The  north  rose  of  the  transept  shows  pictures  of  the  sciences. 
Beneath  the  rose  window  in  the  flat  eastern  wall  are  three 
handsome  lancets  made  by  the  school  of  Chartres  early  in  the 
XIII  century.  They  show  the  passing  away  of  the  hieratic 
Byzantine  gesture:  in  the  Annunciation  and  Visitation  medal- 
lions the  robes  float  naturally;  in  the  Nativity  scene  the 
natural  gesture  of  a  woman  who  tests  the  warmth  of  the  water 
before  bathing  the  Holy  Child  has  been  well  rendered. 

If  a  lack  of  accessories  makes  the  interior  of  Laon  Cathedral 
seem  to-day  more  philosophic  than  religious,  there  are  certain 
lovable  individual  touches  in  it  that  warm  both  heart  and 
imagination.  In  the  first  place  it  is  a  church  fairly  garlanded 
with  springtime  foliage.  The  wonder  of  eternal  youth  is  in 
its  half-curled  leaves  which  the  sculptors  conventionalized  just 
enough  to  make  them  architectural.  Not  one  sprig,  not  one 
leaf  is  like  another.  Never  was  nature  more  profoundly  loved 
or  more  convincingly  interpreted. 

Then  there  are  the  stone  bulls  of  Laon.  They  stand  high 
on  the  western  towers,  those  sixteen  massive  oxen,  stretching 
their  necks,  as  if  watching  the  people  climb  the  steep  hill  below. 
Each  stands  under  a  columned  canopy.  The  popular  fancy 
is  that  they  commemorate  the  patient  beasts  who  dragged  the 
stones  for  the  cathedral  up  Laon's  precipitous  crags,  and  there 
is  nothing  improbable  in  the  idea.  It  was  a  day  when  St. 
Francis  was  telling  man  to  love  his  dumb  fellow  creatures. 
The  towers  of  Laon  Cathedral  are  worthy  of  the  magistral 
setting  of  the  church  on  the  edge  of  the  abrupt  hill  where  had 
grown  the  ancient  city.  For  miles  Laon's  towers  command  the 
plain,  "an  assembly  without  rival  among  Gothic  monuments." 
Incomplete  though  they  are,  Laon's  five  towers  come  nearer  to 
the  ideal  plan  of  seven  spires  than  does  any  other  cathedral. 
The  corner  tourelles  pass  from  one  form  to  another,  as  they 

rise,  converting  themselves  into  octagons.     "Ponder  it  well," 

101 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

wrote  the  Xlll-century  architect,  Villard  de  Honnecourt,  in 
his  famous  sketchbook.  "I  have  been  in  many  lands,  as  you 
can  see  by  this  book,  but  never  in  any  place  is  to  be  found  a 
tower  equal  to  Laon." 

Four  of  the  towers  are  alike,  each  with  the  same  long  lancet 
openings,  the  same  free-standing  pillars  at  the  corners.  Rows 
of  crockets  mark  the  main  lines,  for  the  old-time  masters  were 
adepts  in  every  device  whereby  to  fix  the  eye  on  the  essential. 
There  are  aspects  when  the  fretwork  designs  made  by  Laon's 
towers  against  the  sky  are  superb. 

The  date  of  the  cathedral  long  gave  rise  to  discussion  in  the 
days  when  mediaeval  archaeology  was  still  hazy.  No  one  now 
contends  that  the  present  Notre  Dame  is  the  church  which 
was  patched  up  hastily  by  Bishop  Bartholomew  de  Vir  after 
the  fire  of  1112.  That  conflagration  was  a  semi-lawless  act. 
Laon's  bishop  was  also  its  feudal  proprietor,  hence  a  greedy 
baronage  contended  to  hold  the  see.  One  Gaudry,  a  knight 
adventurer  who  had  served  under  William  the  Conqueror  in 
England  and  there  grown  rich,  obtained  the  bishopric  of 
Laon  by  simony.  All  his  talk  was  of  hawks,  hounds,  and 
hunting.  During  one  of  his  absences  in  England  the  towns- 
people set  up  a  commune,  and  Gaudry  bent  his  energies  to 
frustrate  it.  In  an  uprising  in  1112  the  infuriated  populace 
murdered  him.  The  fire,  started  during  the  riots,  spread  to 
the  cathedral,  which  was  practically  consumed.  The  burghers, 
being  unskilled  in  arms,  were  forced  to  call  to  their  aid  a  fierce 
robber-baron  of  the  house  of  Coucy,  Thomas  of  Marie,  who, 
according  as  he  found  it  profitable,  fought,  now  against,  now 
for,  the  communes.1  It  took  the  king  of  France  half  a 

1  For  Coucy-le-Chateau  (between  Soissons  and  Laon)  see  M.  Lefevre-Pontalis' 
study  (1909)  in  the  Petites  Monographies  series;  or  the  Congres  Archeologique,  1911, 
p.  239.  The  Xlll-century  donjon  was  the  most  massive  conception  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Coucy's  lord  ruled  a  hundred  towns  and  was  one  of  the  big  figures  in  feudal 
France.  His  proud  device  read:  "Roi  ne  suis,  ne  prince,  ne  due,  ne  cointe  aussi—Je^ 
suis  le  sire  de  Coucy."  The  superb  pile  has  been  demolished  in  the  World  War.  Madame 
Yvonne  Sarcey  visited  Coucy  in  April,  1917.  Of  the  imposing  mediaeval  castle,  hang- 
ing like  a  bourg  to  the  flank  of  the  hill,  there  remain  two  gaping  porticos.  "C'est 
tout!  .  .  .  C'est  tout!"  she  lamented.  "Ce  paysage  adorable  de  V  Ile-de-France  portera 
sa  croix."  The  Germans  blew  up  the  castle  before  their  strategic  retirement,  in  1917. 

102 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

lifetime  to  destroy  that  "raging  wolf,"  as  Abbot  Suger  called 
him. 

Guizot  has  brought  out  that  the  Xll-century  uprisings 
against  feudal  exactions  on  the  part  of  the  burgesses  were  often 
favored  by  king  and  clergy.  Such  was  the  unformed  state 
of  society  that  no  liberal  general  views  could  be  adhered  to; 
the  king  is  to  be  found  granting  charters  to  some  towns  and 
marching  against  the  rebellious  citizens  in  others.  The  bishops 
of  Noyon,  Beauvais,  and  Soissons  favored  the  people's  claims. 
The  prelates  of  Rheims  and  Laon  opposed  them.  Such  feudal- 
ism as  that  of  Thomas  of  Marie  meant  permanent  anarchy; 
for  the  royal  power  to  centralize  authority  then  meant  law 
and  order. 

It  is  sad  to  relate  that  no  sooner  did  the  burgess  gain  his 
civic  rights  than  he  began  to  oppress  the  peasantry.  Before 
the  XIII  century  closed  there  were  outbreaks  of  the  peasants 
against  the  prosperous  townspeople.  In  our  own  day  has  the 
cry  of  the  underman,  voiced  by  the  old  Norman  poet,  been 
silenced?  "We  are  men  as  they.  The  same  in  stature,  the 
same  in  limb,  and  the  same  in  strength — for  suffering.  Are 
we  not  men  even  as  they?" 

At  Laon  the  antagonism  between  bishop  and  citizens  con- 
tinued for  a  century;  several  times  the  charter  was  won,  only  to 
be  abrogated  later.  There  is  food  for  thought  that  all  through 
the  embittered  struggle  the  building  of  the  cathedral  was 
carried  forward,  and  it  was  an  enterprise  that  required  the 
collaboration  of  bishop  and  people.  The  people  might  fight 
their  baron  bishop  to  wrench  from  him  certain  civic  rights, 
but  they  were  aware  of  the  difference  between  his  temporal 
claims  and  his  spiritual  authority.  Their  robust  faith  was  not 
disconcerted  by  a  discrepancy  between  "Peter's  key"  and 
"Peter's  sword."  To  the  end  of  time  Peter  will  show  his  weak 
human  side.  Had  he  not  denied  thrice?  Had  not  another  of 
the  selected  twelve  betrayed  for  paltry  lucre?  Had  not  every- 
one of  them  run  away  in  the  hour  of  need? 

While  Bishop  Gaudri's  ill-gotten  gains  were  buying  him  a 
bishopric  there  was  in  Laon's  cathedral  chapter  a  famous 

103 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

scholar  who  had  stoutly  opposed  his  election.  AnseLm  of 
Laon,  son  of  a  laborer,  "the  grave,  the  sweet,  the  prudent," 
was  a  pupil  of  St.  Anselm  of  Bee  and  Canterbury.  For  over 
forty  years  he  taught  in  Paris  and  in  Laon,  and  from  the 
nucleus  of  his  pupils,  among  whom  were  Guillaume  de  Cham- 
peaux  and  Abelard,  was  to  emerge  Paris  University,  which 
was  not,  however,  to  appear  by  name  in  history  till  1215. 
Anselm  of  Laon  (d.  1117),  like  his  greater  namesake,  was  a 
pioneer  in  scholasticism,  which  brought  to  the  study  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine  not  only  the  aid  of  tradition,  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  and  the  Church  Fathers,  but  also  the  use  of 
metaphysics  and  dialectics.  The  school  of  this  master  at 
Laon  became  a  veritable  university  to  which  flocked  students 
from  Italy,  Spain,  Germany,  and  England. 

Laon  Cathedral  is  justly  entitled  to  carve  the  Liberal  Arts 
on  its  fagade.  A  score  of  the  coming  notable  men  of  the  XII 
century  were  Anselm's  pupils;  one  of  them  was  that  bishop 
who  began  the  Primary  Gothic  tower  of  the  cathedral  at 
Rouen.  Anselm  and  his  brother  trained  the  youths  who, 
having  heard  St.  Norbert  of  Cologne  preach  in  Laon  Cathe- 
dral, in  1120,  followed  him  to  Premontre,  in  the  forest  of 
Coucy,  which  estate  gave  its  name  to  the  new  order  Norbert 
there  founded.  Like  the  Cistercians;  so  swift  an  increase 
had  the  white  canons  of  Premontre  that  they  soon  counted 
a  thousand  houses  over  Europe  and  were  an  evangelizing 
force  for  their  century  even  as  Cluny  had  been  earlier  and 
as  the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans  were  to  be  in  the  XIII 
century.  The  citizens  of  Laon  clamored  for  Anselm  as 
their  bishop  when  the  miserable  Gaudri  was  killed  in  1112, 
but  he  declined  the  honor  and  directed  the  choice  to  the 
worthy  Bartholomew  de  Vir,  who  restored  temporarily  the 
cathedral. 

It  is  not  known  exactly  when  was  laid  the  foundation  stone 
of  Laon's  Gothic  cathedral.  By  its  sculpture,  the  profiles, 
and  the  noticeable  keystones,  the  archaeologists  say  that  it 
belongs  to  the  last  third  of  the  XII  century  and  that  it  kept 
to  its  original  plans,  though  its  building  continued  into  the 

104. 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

first  third  of  the  XIII  century.  The  bishop-founder  was  a 
pupil  of  Anselm's  and  himself  had  taught  rhetoric  in  Paris. 
Gautier  de  Mortagne  (1155-71)  gave  generously  of  his  own 
revenues  to  the  new  works.  The  choir  he  built  ended  in  a 
semicircle  and  consisted  of  the  present  three  bays  next  the 
transept.  There,  and  in  the  west  wall  of  the  transept,  the 
profiles  are  different  from  those  elsewhere  in  the  church. 

In  a  second  spell  of  work  they  finished  the  transept,  the  nave, 
the  towers,  and  the  west  facade  just  before  1200.  Laon's 
fagade  ranks  among  the  great  western  frontispieces  of  Gothic 
architecture,  a  model  for  that  of  Rheims.  What  chiefly 
characterizes  it  are  the  profound  shadows  made  by  cavernous 
porches,  projecting  gables,  and  other  varied  surfaces.  It  has 
been  called  a  supreme  composition  in  light  and  shade.  In 
accentuating  the  upward  surge  of  lines  it  was  a  pioneer.  When 
the  fagade  was  finished  the  choir  was  lengthened  by  seven 
bays,  and  now  was  terminated  by  a  flat  wall  whose  prototype 
is  to  be  found  in  Laon  town  in  the  church  of  St.  Martin,  an 
early-Gothic  edifice,  building  about  1165.  Various  regional 
churches  used  the  square  chevet.  As  the  custom  died  out  in 
France,  it  struck  root  in  England,  where  the  Cistercians  made 
it  popular.  Those  accustomed  to  the  rectagonal  chevet  of 
the  English  cathedral  may  prefer  that  type,  but  to  a  lover 
of  the  apse  of  the  French  cathedral,  of  the  curving  pro- 
cession path  with  its  radiating  chapels  that  mystically  sug- 
gests the  thorn  crown  around  the  Sacred  Head,  it  will  ever 
seem  a  dull  way  to  end  a  sanctuary  precisely  like  a  transept 
arm. 

The  cathedral  of  Laon  was  consecrated  in  1237.  That 
same  century  built  the  treasure  hall  and  the  large  chapel 
beside  the  west  fagade.  The  XIV  century  added  side  chapels 
between  the  buttresses,  and  in  those  chapels  at  Laon  appears 
the  academic  precision  of  that  skilled  but  dry  period.  About 
the  same  time  was  made  a  new  southern  portal  for  the  tran- 
sept, and  the  wheel  window  over  it  was  replaced  by  a  big 
Rayonnant  Gothic  light. 

The  hill  citadel  called  by   Charlemagne  in  the  Chanson 

105 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

de  Roland  "my  good  town  of  Laon"  was  held  by  the  invader 
from  August,  1914,  to  October,  1918.  Though  the  city  was 
shelled  by  the  French,  not  a  piece  of  glass  in  the  cathedral 
was  broken.  St.  Martin's  abbatial,  too,  is  intact,  and  the 
XH-century  Templar's  church,  the  only  well-preserved  mon- 
ument in  France  built  by  the  great  military  Order.  The 
Prussians'  horses  were  stabled  at  first  in,  the  cathedral  till 
a  general  public  protest  stopped  such  a  desecration.  When 
the  Allies,  under  General  Foch,  drove  back  the  German  lines 
in  the  final  weeks  of  the  war,  the  retreat  was  too  swift  for 
much  havoc  to  be  wrought.  On  October  13,  1918,  General 
Mangin  made  his  triumphal  entry  into  Laon,  whose  much- 
enduring  citizens  flocked  around  him  in  the  cathedral  to  chant 
a  solemn  Te  Deum. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  SOISSONS* 

The  other  evening  before  the  ruins  of  a  Cistercian  abbey,  that  once 
harbored  St.  Louis  and  his  mother,  Blanche  of  Castile,  a  group  of  Alpine 
chasseurs  and  Zouaves  fell  to  recounting  their  daily  feats  of  heroism 
just  as  in  the  times  of  chivalry  the  strong,  swift  strophes  of  the  chanson  de 
geste  celebrated  knightly  prowess.  To  the  north,  the  cannon  thundered.  .  .  . 
And  the  next  morning,  a  Sunday,  I  assisted  at  Mass  in  a  Gothic-vaulted 
hall  that  had  served  as  promenoir  for  the  monks  of  Citeaux.  Soldiers  filled 
all  the  wooden  seats,  others  thronged  the  threshold,  bareheaded  in  the 
shadow  of  the  ruins.  .  .  .  Then  when  the  sacrifice  of  the  body  and  blood 
of  our  Lord  was  celebrated,  a  song  rose  in  the  dawn:  "Kyrie  Eleison!  God 
be  praised!"  And  the  soldiers  within  the  chapel  and  without  sang  before 
returning  to  battle  as  in  the  ancient  Chanson  de  Saucourt:  "Kyrie  Eleison!" 
Even  those  harnessing  the  great  cart  horses,  those  saddling  their  own 
restive  mounts,  those  extinguishing  the  fires  of  the  night's  bivouac,  and 
those  charging  the  six-wheeled  camions,  all  took  up  the  canticle:  "God  be 
praised!  Kyrie  Eleison!"  .  .  .  And  the  implacable  cannonading  to  the 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1911,  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  p.  315,  the  cathedral;  p.  337, 
St.  Medard;  p.  343,  St.  Leger;  p.  348,  St.  Jean-des-Vignes;  Etienne  Moreau-Nelaton, 
"  Soissons  avant  la  guerre,"  In  Les  cites  ravagees  (Collection,  Images  historiques), 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1919);  ibid.,  Les  eglises  de  chez  nous:  Soissons  (Paris,  H.  Laurens); 
Abbe  Poquet,  Notice  historique  et  archeologique  de  la  cathedrale  de  Soissons  (Soissons, 
1848);  Emile  Lambin,  "  La  cathedrale  de  Soissons,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1898, 
vol.  47;  Emile  Male,  L'art  allemand  et  I'artfranqais  du  moyen  age  (Paris,  1917);  Bouet, 
"  Excursion  a  Noyon,  a  Laon  et  a  Soissons,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1868,  vol.  34, 
p.  430;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  L 'architecture  religieuse  dans  I'ancien  diocese  de  Soissons 
au  XIe  et  au  XIIe,  siecle  (Paris,  Plon,  1894-98),  2  vols.,  folio. 

106 


The  Oxen  on  Loan's  Towers 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

north  echoed  in  the  deep  quarries,  whence  had  come  the  stones  builded 
here  for  God's  glory. 

— A  war  picture  of  Longpont  abbey,1  by  GABRIELE  d'ANNUNZio, 
who  visited  the  battle-front  in  1914. 

To-day  the  fair  white  city  of  Soissons  lies  a  scene  of  deso- 
lation, only  to  be  likened  to  a  wrecked  town  of  old-time  bar- 
barism. They  say  that  Soissons  Cathedral  is  more  damaged 
than  if  a  geological  convulsion  had  wrecked  it.  Deliberately 
was  it  taken  as  a  target,  though,  as  French  troops  held  the 
highlands  round  the  flat  town,  there  can  be  no  excuse  that 
the  towers  were  used  as  posts  of  observation.  The  west- 
ernmost bays  are  ruined;  the  north  side  of  the  big  church 
has  been  riddled  with  projectiles;  flying  buttresses  have 
been  cut  off;  great  rents  show  in  roof  and  sides;  the  vault- 
ing hangs  in  air;  a  pier  lies  prone,  its  stones  scattered  like 
a  pack  of  cards;  the  aisles  are  dismantled,  and  the  windows, 
some  of  which  Blanche  of  Castile  gave  in  1225,  have  been 
reduced  to  powdered  dust.  In  one  week  of  January,  1916, 
over  three  hundred  projectiles  fell  on  the  church,  said  the 
old  priest,  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  the  wreckage,  to  a  visitor 
to  whom  he  spoke  gently  of  God's  mercy.  In  the  once  "sweet 
and  tranquil  provincial  city,  whose  soul  was  the  daughter 
of  honorable  simplicity,  grass  grows  in  the  street.  Soissons 
is  a  dead  city.  Its  casementless  windows  fix  you  like  the 
eye  of  the  blind."  Always  has  it  lain  in  the  path  of  war, 
this  ancient  capital  of  Clovis  that  has  ever  been  part  of  the 
very  heart  of  France,  but  never  war  such  as  this ! 

Here,  in  486,  Clovis  won  the  battle  of  Soissons  that  an- 
nihilated the  last  remnant  of  Rome's  empire  in  Gaul,  and 
conquered  the  land  to  the  Loire.  In  the  evil  days  of  the 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1911,  p.  410,  Longpont  abbatial;  Abbe  Poquet,  Mono- 
graphic de  I'abbaye  de  Longpont  (1869).  Longpont,  where  the  bishops  of  Soissons 
were  buried,  was  founded  by  Gerard  de  Cherisy,  who  had  married  Lady  Agnes  of 
Longpont.  St.  Bernard  sent  twelve  Cistercian  monks  to  start  the  new  house  in  1131. 
The  splendid  Gothic  church,  which  departed  from  Citeaux's  rule  of  church  simplicity, 
was  consecrated  in  1227  before  the  queen  regent  and  Louis  IX,  by  the  bishop  of  Sois- 
sons, Jacques  de  Bazoches,  who  had  just  anointed  Louis  as  king,  at  Rheims.  Long- 
pont was  sacked  by  the  Huguenots  in  1567,  and  wrecked  by  the  Revolution.  The 
picturesque  ruins  were  acquired  by  the  de  Montesquieu  family  in  1850. 

107 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Hundred  Years'  War,  Soissons  suffered.  So  depopulated 
was  it  by  the  XVI-century  religious  wars  that  it  took  over 
a  century  to  recover.  Nor  did  the  Revolution  spare  the 
seat  of  the  ancient  monarchies  of  France.  In  1814  occurred 
an  explosion  of  gunpowder  that  wrecked  precious  windows 
in  the  cathedral,  some  of  them  the  gifts  of  Philippe-Auguste. 
In  1870  the  Prussian  bombardment  of  Soissons  devastated 
what  remained  of  the  abbey  church  of  St.  Jean-des-Vignes, 
whose  Flamboyant  Gothic  spires  have  been  mutilated  again 
in  the  World  War.1 

Under  the  southern  flank  of  the  shattered  cathedral  nestles 
the  diamond  of  Primary  Gothic  art  in  France,  the  transept 
arm  built  by  the  crusading  bishop,  Nivelon  de  Cherisy.  As 
by  a  miracle  it  has  escaped.  The  most  exquisite  thing  in 
France,  many  of  us  hold  it  to  be.  It  has  drawn  its  devotees 
back  to  Soissons  time  and  time  again,  this  perfect  thing  so 
little  heralded.  They  would  test  a  second  and  a  third  time 
the  overpowering  first  impression  it  had  made.  Perhaps 
it  had  been  some  happy  mood,  some  subtle  lingering  shadows 
of  the  late  afternoon,  that  had  touched  it  momentarily  to 
an  ethereal  grace.  And  then  standing  face  to  face  again 
with  its  small  and  stately  beauty,  those  who  love  this  early- 
Gothic  monument  of  France  know  that  its  power  is  not  a 
chance  or  borrowed  comeliness. 


1  The  monastery  church  of  St.  Jean-des-Vignes  was  in  size  a  cathedral,  and  the 
maker  of  the  great  fagade  at  Rheims,  Bernard  de  Soissons,  is  said  to  have  designed  it. 
The  cloisters,  once  the  most  sumptuous  in  the  kingdom,  were  begun  by  an  abbot  who 
died  in  1224,  after  he  had  built  an  aqueduct  for  the  city  which  still  is  in  use.  St. 
Jean's  big  west  rose  had  been,  since  1870,  an  empty  circle.  Little  more  than  its 
facade  and  western  towers  stood  before  1914.  Sacked  by  the  Revolution,  its  real 
demolition  was  under  the  Empire,  when  to  repair  the  cathedral  the  deserted  mon- 
astery was  sold  for  a  paltry  sum,  and  stone  by  stone  removed.  The  congregation  of 
good  men  in  this  abbey  did  parish  work  for  many  centuries.  In  such  good  repute 
with  the  citizens  were  they  that,  when  the  Revolution  suppressed  the  house,  Soissons' 
municipality  protested,  saying  that  the  abbey  had  "always  claimed  with  zeal  its 
share  of  public  duties."  Taine  in  his  L'Ancien  Regime  quotes  the  protest:  "In 
calamities  this  abbey  opens  its  doors  to  the  destitute  citizens  and  feeds  them.  It 
alone  has  borne  the  expense  of  the  citizens'  meetings,  preparatory  to  the  election  of 
deputies  for  the  National  Assembly.  It  now  is  lodging  a  company  of  soldiers.  Always 
when  there  are  sacrifices  to  be  made  it  is  on  hand."  However,  the  revolutionary 
authorities  paid  no  heed  to  the  citizens'  desire  to  retain  their  historic  house. 

108 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

Sit  before  it  for  hours;  study  the  mystery  and  play  of  its 
lights  and  shadows;  try  to  seize  in  what  lies  its  young  poesy 
of  grace,  its  maturity  of  dignity,  "its  invincible  impression 
of  virginity."  In  vain  to  analyze  it.  Can  that  intangible 
quality  which  is  sheer  inevitable  beauty  be  dissected?  Those 
who  fall  under  the  spell  of  its  supernal  loveliness  lose  all 
false  shame  that  would  prune  adjectives,  lest  their  praise 
be  excessive.  No  glow  of  words  can  convey  the  something 
celestial  here.  The  nave  and  the  choir  of  Soissons  Cathedral 
are  XIH-century  Gothic  at  its  prime,  and  yet  they  seem 
merely  to  be  the  setting  for  a  jewel,  for  the  small  apse  preceded 
by  one  bay,  which  is  the  transept's  southern  arm.  That 
apse  and  bay  are  the  culmination  of  the  Romanesque  ideals, 
and  at  the  same  time,  indissolubly  part  of  the  new  and  richer 
art,  they  crown  the  Primary  Gothic  hour. 

Soissons'  chief  church  is  better  documented  than  Laon's. 
Bishop  Nivelon  I  de  Cherisy  (a  Cherisy  fell  on  the  field  of 
honor  in  1914)  occupied  the  see  from  1176  to  1207.  The 
Romanesque  cathedral  which  he  inherited  had  become  inad- 
equate, so  the  bishop  gave  land  from  his  episcopal  garden, 
and  about  1180  the  foundation  of  the  south  arm  of  the  tran- 
sept was  laid.  Like  Noyon's  transept,  it  terminated  in  a 
hemicycle,  and  its  interior  elevation  was  also  in  four  stories, 
but  here  was  attained  a  consummate  symmetry  not  achieved 
at  Noyon.  Soissons'  curving  transept  arm  is  exceptional 
in  having  an  ambulatory.  The  apsidal  chapel  which  opens 
in  its  eastern  wall  has  over  it  a  similar  chapel  that  gives  on 
the  tribune  gallery.  Slender  columns  with  stilted  arches 
are  planted  at  the  entrance  of  each  of  these  chapels  in  the 
gracious  fashion  originated  by  the  Champagne  school  of 
Gothic.  It  was  born  of  a  necessity,  in  order  that  a  more 
regular  vaulting  might  be  built  over  the  curving  aisle.  St. 
Remi  at  Rheims  had  used  the  same  arrangement.  So  many 
are  the  points  of  resemblance  between  Soissons'  transept 
arm  and  the  choir  of  St.  Remi's  abbey  church  that  it  is  thought 
the  architect  of  the  Champagne  abbatial  proceeded  to  Sois- 
sons later;  there  are  the  same  profiles,  the  same  plan,  the 

109 


same  encircling  frieze  of  sculpture.  At  Soissons,  the  archi- 
tect had  grown  bolder  and  dared  to  diminish  his  supports. 
To  have  made  Soissons'  curving  wall  of  arches  and  colon- 
nettes  proves  him  to  have  been,  not  only  well  practiced  in 
mason-craft,  but  a  man  of  genius  who  had  visions.  He  here 
created  a  thing  apart.  The  exterior  of  the  transept's  arm  is 
unimpressive  and  plain;  the  lower  windows  are  round-arched. 
Inside,  the  pointed  arch  reigns,  however.  "  The  king's  daughter 
is  all  glorious  within." 

The  prelate  who  built  Soissons  Cathedral  was  a  remarkable 
personage  and  played  a  foremost  part  on  the  Fourth  Crusade. 
Villehardouin  tells  us  that  it  was  Bishop  Nivelon  de  Cherisy 
who  was  sent  as  an  envoy  to  Innocent  III,  when  against  papal 
commands  the  Crusaders  had  turned  aside  to  capture  the 
Christian  city  of  Zara  on  the  Dalmatian  coast.  The  bishop- 
ambassador  found  the  pope  at  Viterbo  and  obtained  from 
him  the  raising  of  the  excommunication  on  condition  that  the 
knights  should  proceed  direct  to  Palestine.  We  all  know 
how,  a  second  time,  they  went  filibustering.  Among  the  first 
to  scale  the  walls  of  Constantinople  was  Nivelon  de  Cherisy; 
with  him  was  the  bishop  of  Troyes.  When  the  chief  barons 
met  to  elect  the  first  Latin  emperor  of  Constantinople,  it  was 
Bishop  Nivelon  who  passed  out  to  the  waiting  crowd  to  an- 
nounce that  Baldwin  of  Flanders  had  been  chosen — Baldwin 
who  began  the  Cloth  Hall  at  Ypres — and  it  was  he  who 
crowned  Baldwin  in  St.  Sophia.  When  that  new  emperor  was 
captured  by  the  Bulgars  the  bishop  of  Soissons.  returned  to 
Europe  for  aid. 

All  the  time  that  he  was  absent  in  the  Holy  Land  Nivelon 
had  devoted  the  revenues  of  his  see  toward  the  renewal  of  the 
cathedral.  Strangely  enough,  it  was  this  same  prelate  who 
also  built  Soissons'  choir,  which  in  scale  and  plan  differs  so 
radically  from  the  transept  arm.  The  fleeting  hour  of  Primary 
Gothic  was  over.  The  new  art  was  moving  forward  swiftly; 
irresistible  the  development  of  its  principles  and  impossible 
at  such  a  time  that  the  work  of  one  decade  could  be  similar 

to  the  decade  preceding  it  unless,  as  at  Laon,  the  primitive 

no 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

plan  was  insistently  adhered  to.  Whoever  the  master  that 
designed  Soissons'  choir  and  nave,  he  incorporated  the  perfect 
transept  into  his  bigger  church  with  reverence.  Not  to  dwarf 
it  was  his  main  care,  for  he  bowed  before  the  touch  of  per- 
fection in  his  predecessor's  work,  and  sought  to  give  to  his 
own  monument,  different  though  it  was,  a  like  clarity  and 
noble  simplicity.  Examine  the  skill  with  which  choir  and  nave 
are  joined  to  the  small  transept  arm.  It  is  lower  than  they,  it 
has  four  vertical  stories  to  their  three,  and  yet  no  discrepancy 
is  felt.  It  was  as  if  the  new  builder  said :  "Here  is  a  miracle  of 
force  and  grace,  done  in  a  fugitive  hour  never  to  be  recaptured. 
Let  us  enshrine  it  fittingly." 

In  1212  services  were  held  in  the  finished  choir.  The  nave 
proceeded  without  interruption  and  was  in  use  in  the  first 
years  of  St.  Louis'  reign.  Probably  the  final  touches  were 
given  to  it  by  that  bishop  of  Soissons  of  whom  Joinville  tells, 
Mgr.  Jacques  de  Castel,  fort  et  vaillant  homme,  who  started 
with  the  king  on  the  crusade  of  1248.  After  Mansourah's 
battle  and  the  disastrous  retreat  toward  Damietta  good  Bishop 
Jacques  felt  such  a  desire  "to  go  to  God"  that  he  rushed  alone 
to  attack  the  infidels,  whose  swords  soon  "dispatched  him  to 
God's  company  with  the  martyrs." 

Singular  good  taste  has  at  all  times  guided  the  builders  of 
Soissons.  The  XIV  century  decided  to  make  a  northern  arm 
to  the  transept;  and  as  if  to  avoid  all  hint  of  rivalry  with  its 
peerless  neighbor,  the  new  structure  was  finished  by  a  flat 
end  wall  without  a  portal. 

The  cylinder  piers  of  Soissons  choir  and  nave  are  a  dis- 
tinguishing trait  of  the  church  interior,  neither  too  high  nor  too 
short.  Before  each  is  engaged  a  slender  shaft  which  rises  to 
the  level  of  the  springing  and  causes  the  edifice  to  appear 
more  lofty  than  its  reality.  Everywhere,  in  the  church,  the 
fitting  of  the  stones  was  done  with  peculiar  nicety,  though  the 
picking  out  of  the  mortar  lines  in  black,  a  recent  innovation, 
was  a  sad  mistake.  In  the  choir  and  nave  the  clearstory  win- 
dows were  an  advance  on  those  of  Chartres,  their  model,  for 

the  lights  were  made  longer,  and  the  oculus,  above  the  twin 
8  111 


lancets,  smaller,  which  gave  greater  compactness  to  the  whole 
composition.  St.  Gereon  at  Cologne  copied  these  windows. 
Marburg's  church  also  was  aided  by  Soissons. 

The  tale  of  this  desolate  city  during  the  World  War  is 
heartrending.  The  Germans  first  entered  Soissons  on  Sep- 
tember 1,  1914.  The  mayor  had  fled.  But  an  admirable 
woman,  Madame  Macherez,  the  widow  of  a  senator,  went  to 
the  elat-major  of  the  Prussians  and  assumed  the  responsibility 
to  keep  order  among  the  civilians:  "  Le  maire  c'est  moi." 
Already  the  poets  of  France  have  enshrined  the  memory  of 
this  heroine  of  sixty  winters  who  saved  her  city  from  pillage: 

Le  regard  bleu  comme  stri6  de  lave 

De  Jeanne  Macherez  qui  nous  sauva  Soissons. 

Ah!  la  vieille  brave! 

For  ten  days  the  Germans  occupied  the  town.  The  first 
battle  of  the  Marne  caused  their  departure  on  September 
12th.  Then  a  French  reverse  in  January,  1915,  let  them  draw 
near  enough  to  the  city  to  bring  it  within  the  range  of  fire, 
and  such  was  its  tragic  fate  till  the  Germans'  stategic  retreat 
in  the  spring  of  1917.  The  enemy  had  intrenched  himself 
solidly  in  the  vast  quarries  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Aisne,  and 
month  after  month  poured  his  fire  on  desolated  Soissons. 
Then  came  the  final  grand  act  of  the  war.  Rolling  forward 
in  overwhelming  numbers  in  March,  1918,  the  invaders  drove 
the  French  troops  from  Soissons  after  a  desperate  resistance 
in  the  streets.  There  they  encamped  until  the  first  days  of 
the  following  August,  when  the  French  army  re-entered  the 
smoking  ruins  of  a  dead  city  over  which  stood  a  phantom 
cathedral. 

Noyon,  Senlis,  Sens,  Laon,  and  Soisson,  are  with  Notre 
Dame  of  Paris  the  first  cathedrals  of  the  national  art.  They 
are  far  from  being  the  complete  list  of  Primary  Gothic  monu- 
ments, which  includes  such  churches  as  the  Trinite  at  Vendome, 
two  churches  at  Etampes,1  the  collegiate  of  Notre  Dame  at 

1  For  the  churches  of  Notre  Dame  and  St.  Martins,  at  fitampes,  see  Bulletin  Mon- 
umental, 1905,  vol.  69,  and  Annales  de  la  Societe  hist,  et  archeol.  du  gatinais,  1907, 
Lefcvre-Pontalis;  also  the  Congres  Arckeologique,  1901,  p.  71.  Notre  Dame  was 

112 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

Mantes,  the  Trinite  at  Fecamp,  and  Lisieux  Cathedral.  There 
are  the  two  towers  built  in  an  hour  of  religious  enthusiasm: 
the  docker  vieux  at  Chartres  and  the  belfry  of  St.  Remain  at 
Rouen.  The  nave  of  Angers  Cathedral  is  the  Primary  Gothic 
of  the  Plantagenet  school. 

The  Attica  of  Gothic  art  is  the  Ile-de-France,  and  where 
Picardy  touches  it  on  the  north,  and  Champagne  on  the 
south.  In  that  land  filled  with  never-to-be-forgotten  churches 
speaks  the  clarity  of  French  genius  in  its  classic  simplicity. 
The  beauty  of  such  churches 'comes  from  their  Tightness  of 
proportion,  that  quality  which  gives  the  most  enduring  joy 
in  architecture,  beyond  all  richness  of  detail  or  startling 
effect.  From  such  churches  one  learns  the  difference  between 
the  architect  born  and  the  architect  made.  The  supreme 
quality  of  proportion  must  be  innate;  it  is  never  acquired. 
The  artist  blessed  with  it  may  only  produce  a  small  master- 
piece, such  a  church  as  that  of  St.  Yved  of  Braine  or  a  St. 
Leu-d'Esserent,  but  one  is  sure  that  he  would  not  exchange 
the  glow  which  his  work  gave  him  for  the  fame  of  building 
even  a  Strasbourg. 

It  is  in  the  early- Gothic  churches  of  the  Ile-de-France  that 
the  taste  is  best  purified  and  trained.  There  the  sense  of 
beauty  is  spiritualized.  In  them  art  gives  an  entity  to  what 
is  ethereal,  art  seems  to  make  tangible  what  is  impalpable. 
In  them  the  heart  feels  the  loveliness  of  the  space  inclosed 
as  the  eye  rejoices  in  the  inclosing  walls.  There  is  some- 
thing of  poignancy  in  such  churches.  Standing  in  all  the 
promise  of  their  youth,  of  the  youth  of  the  greatest  archi- 
tecture the  world  ever  produced,  they  gravely  admonish  us 
that  beauty  even  as  theirs  is  but  a  momentary  lifting  of  the 

begun  about  1160.  Its  strongly  Romanesque  south  portal  is  of  the  same  type  as 
Chartres'  western  doors.  The  crypt  and  piers  of  the  nave  are  XI  century,  and  the 
transept  and  choir  were  rebuilt  about  1170  as  early  Gothic.  The  Romanesque  tower 
is  one  of  the  best  of  its  epoch;  its  base  is  approximately  1050;  the  next  two  stories 
about  1075;  the  fourth  story,  1125;  and  the  spire,  1130.  The  church  is  full  of  irreg- 
ularities from  rebuildings.  St.  Martin's  church  is  XII  and  XIII  century;  its  much 
discussed  ambulatory  of  the  Champagne  type  is  about  1165.  The  number  of  sup- 
ports for  the  vault  was  doubled  in  the  outer  wall,  thus  making  the  space  to  be  covered 
a  series  of  square  compartments  alternating  with  triangles. 

113 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

veil.  To  such  churches  the  memory  returns  with  nostalgic 
regret  amid  the  magnificence  of  the  Gothic  expansion,  when 
the  leaves  opened  wide  to  show  the  golden  pollen.  But  the 
sadness  which  the  early-Gothic  churches  of  France  rouse  in 
the  soul,  is  it  not  the  stumbling  name  we  give  to  an  eternal 
Hope?  "There  are  no  hours  in  this  cathedral,"  wrote  Rodin 
of  Soissons;  "there  is  Eternity."  1 

THE  ABBATIALS  OF  ST.   REMI  AT  RHEIMS,  AND  NOTRE 
DAME   AT   CHlLONS-SUR-MARNE  * 

There  are  two  things  for  which  all  the  Faithful  ought  to  resist  unto  blood, 
Justice  and  Liberty. — PIERRE  DE  CELLE,  Abbot  of  St.  Remi  (1162-81). 

Before  closing  our  crowded  chapter  on  Primary  Gothic 
cathedrals, let  us  add  a  few  notes  on  a  few  early-Gothic  churches. 
Those  of  chief  interest,  in  the  story  of  the  national  art,  are 
the  big  abbey  churches  at  Rheims  and  at  Chalons,  sister 
monuments,  equal  in  size  to  cathedrals.  So  closely  do  they 
resemble  each  other  in  plan  and  ornamentation  that  it  is 
thought  one  architect  planned  both.  They  are  the  earliest 
Gothic  edifices  in  Champagne. 

Notre  Dame  at  Chalons-sur-Marne  was  reconstructed 
soon  after  1157.  Three  periods  of  work  appear  in  it.  The 
transept  and  the  four  towers — which  give  an  imposing  air 
to  the  church — belong  to  the  Romanesque  rebuilding  of  1130. 
The  towers  which  stand  between  choir  and  transept  are 
not  set  symmetrically,  since,  in  that  to  the  south,  use  was 
made  of  the  foundations  of  an  earlier  tower,  a  boundary 


1  Auguste  Rodin,  Les  cathedrales  de  France  (Paris,  A.  Colin,  1914),  4to. 

2  Congres  Archeologique,  1911,  St.  Remi  (Rheims),  p.  57,  and  Notre  Dame  (Chalons), 
p.  473,  Louis  Demaison;    Louis  Demaison,  Les  eglises  de  Chalons-sur-Marne  (Caen, 
1913);    E.  M.  de  Barthelerny,  "Notre  Dame-en- Vaux  de  Chalons-sur-Marne,"  in 
Revue  de  Vart  chretien,  vol.  15,  p.  97;  A.  de  Dion,  "Notre  Dame-en- Vaux  a  Chalons- 
sur-Marne,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1886,  vol.  52,  p.  547,  and  1887,  vol.  53,  p.  439, 
Louis  Grignon;    L.  Grignon,  Description  et  Vhistoire  de  Notre  Dame  de  Chalons-sur- 
Marne  (Chalons-sur-Marne,  1884),  2  vols.;    Abbe  Poussin,  Monographic  de  Vabbaye 
et  de  Veglise  de  St.  Remi  de  Rheims  (Rheims,  1857);    Alfonse  Gosset,  La  basilique  de 
St.  Remi  a  Rheims  (Paris,  1900) ;  L.  Barbat,  Histoire  de  la  mile  de  Chalons-sur-Marne; 
R.  de  Lasteyrie,  L' architecture  religieuse  en  France  a  Vepoque  romane  (Paris,  1912), 
p.  158,  St.  Remi. 

114 


mark  between  the  lands  of  the  big  abbey  and  those  of  the 
bishop  of  Chalons. 

In  1157,  the  Romanesque  choir  of  Notre  Dame  collapsed, 
and  when  rebuilt  the  citizens  of  the  ancient  city  on  the  Marne 
displayed  the  same  pious  enthusiasm  as  had  the  men  and 
the  women  of  Chartres  in  1145.  In  1165,  Guy  de  Bazoches, 
then  a  canon  of  Chalons  Cathedral,  wrote  to  his  sister  to 
describe  how  all  ages  and  conditions  brought  material  to 
the  new  church  of  Notre  Dame-en- Vaux,  and  how  the  people, 
harnessed  to  carts,  sang  canticles  as  they  labored.  When 
the  new  Gothic  choir  was  under  way  the  nave  of  1130  was 
remodeled.  The  pier  arches  and  the  tribune  arches  were 
made  pointed,  and  the  upper  walls  were  raised  in  order  that 
a  Gothic  vaulting  might  be  added. 

Notre  Dame's  choir  is  very  beautiful.  Its  three  apse 
chapels  open  on  the  ambulatory,  by  columns  and  stilted 
arches,  perhaps  the  first  time  this  disposition  of  Champagne 
Gothic  was  used.  Soon  it  was  repeated  in  St.  Remi  at  Rheims. 
Auxerre  and  St.  Quentin  also  used  it,  and  it  reached  its  apo- 
theosis in  the  ethereal  charm  of  Soissons'  transept.  Notre 
Dame  at  Chalons  was  in  other  ways  a  precursor;  here  first 
were  set  in  each  bay  of  the  clearstory  three  windows  side  by 
side,  a  triplet  of  lancets  that  started  the  complex  fenestra- 
tion  of  the  new  art.  In  its  first  plan  were  no  flying  but- 
tresses, but  they  were  soon  added  when  it  was  found  that 
the  thrust  of  the  upper  vaulting  was  not  sufficiently  counter- 
butted.  In  the  XV  century  the  Flamboyant  south  porch 
was  built.  Of  the  XVI  century  are  some  rich  windows  of 
the  school  of  Troyes,  now  set  in  the  nave's  aisles.  One  of 
them  represents  the  victory  of  Spain's  crusaders  over  Islam 
at  Las  Navas  de  Tolosa  in  1212,  and  is  the  best  battle  scene 
depicted  in  colored  glass.  With  its  beautiful  Gothic  cathe- 
dral, its  immense  abbatial,  and  all  of  its  churches  rich  with 
storied  windows,  one  is  profoundly  grateful  that  Chalons- 
sur-Marne  only  for  a  short  hour  early  in  the  World  War 
formed  part  of  that  "ligne  doulereuse  et  triomphale,  ce  ruban 

115 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

de  pourpre  et  de  lumiere  qui  s'etend  de  Belfort  au  rivage  des 
Flandres,  la  Voie  Sacree." 

Tragic  the  fate  of  its  sister  abbatial,  St.  Remi,  in  martyred 
Rheims.  That  grand  ancestral  church  lies  well-nigh  mortally 
wounded  on  the  field  of  honor.  It  stood  up  above  the  city 
as  prominently  as  the  cathedral  itself,  and  has  been  merci- 
Jessly  wrecked.  The  vaulting  has  fallen,  and  great  rents 
have  been  torn  in  the  walls  of  the  precious  Primary  Gothic 
choir.  A  recent  traveler  found  that  its  devastated  nave  recalled 
gaunt  Jumieges. 

Some  ten  years  after  the  reconstruction  of  Notre  Dame 
at  Chalons,  the  monks  of  St.  Remi  began  to  make  over  their 
abbey  church  under  the  inspiration  of  Abbot  Pierre  de  Celle, 
of  the  same  lineage  as  the  heiress  of  Braine  who,  with  her 
husband,  a  brother  of  Louis  VII,  built  the  church  of  St.  Yved. 
While  John  of  Salisbury  was  a  young  student  in  France,  Pierre 
de  Celle  entered  into  a  friendship  with  him  which  continued 
to  deepen  till  their  death,  both  of  them  being  men  of  the 
highest  culture,  strong  literary  abilities,  and  solid  character. 
Pierre  de  Celle  succeeded  the  English  scholar  as  bishop  of 
Chartres  in  1181;  summi  et  incomparabilis  viri,  so  his  epitaph 
sums  him  up. 

It  was  this  distinguished  churchman  who  built,  about 
1170,  the  superb  choir  of  St.  Remi,  and  who  remodeled  as 
Gothic  the  ancient  Romanesque  nave.  The  choir  had  five 
radiating  chapels,  each  of  which  opened  on  the  ambulatory 
in  the  beautiful  Champagne  way,  by  slender  columns  bearing 
stilted  arches.  As  tribunes  were  built  over  the  aisles,  the 
wall  elevation  was  in  four  stories,  and  below  two  of  them 
ran  friezes  of  sculptured  foliage.  As  if  the  architect  felt 
that  he  had  thus  over-accentuated  the  horizontal  line,  he 
bound  his  triforium  and  clearstory  into  one  composition  by 
continuous  moldings,  a  precocious  first  step  toward  the  glazed 
triforia  of  Rayonnant  Gothic.  Originally  no  flying  buttresses 
braced  this  early-Gothic  choir;  those  that  were  added, 
about  1180,  are  probably  the  first  ever  made.  Nothing 
could  better  show  the  swift  development  of  Gothic  structure 

116 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC   CATHEDRALS 

than  to  compare  the  plain  old  flying  buttresses  of  St.  Remi 
with  the  luxuriant  conterbutting  members  of  Rheims  Cathe- 
dral built  fifty  years  later. 

Between  St.  Remi's  choir  and  the  hemicycle  transept  of 
Soissons  Cathedral  there  is  such  similitude  of  profile,  detail, 
and  plan  that  it  is  thought  the  same  architect  designed  both. 
The  able  Pierre  de  Celle  built  the  two  westernmost  bays 
of  St.  Remi's  nave,  and  opened  the  tribune  on  the  middle 
vessel  with  Gothic  arches.  He  also  built  the  west  fagade, 
which  to-day  is  ancient  only  in  its  lower  stories,  as  it  was  recon- 
structed in  1840.  The  north  tower  was  re-done  in  the  XII 
century;  the  south  one  is  of  the  XI  century,  Abbot  Herimar's 
time. 

With  book  in  hand  should  be  read  the  complicated  story  of 
St.  Remi's  nave  and  transept,  the  ancient  Romanesque  edifice 
re-dressed  as  Gothic  in  1170.  Nothing  remains  of  the  church 
built  in  the  IX  century  under  Bishop  Hincmar  of  Rheims. 
The  oldest  parts  extant  are  the  piers  of  the  nave,  which  be- 
longed to  the  reconstruction  of  the  abbatial  by  Abbot  Airard 
(1005-33).  His  successor,  Thierry  (d.  1041),  decided  that  the 
works  then  under  way  were  on  too  elaborate  a  scale  to  be 
within  his  means,  so  he  simplified  the  plan.  The  outer  side 
aisles  were  suppressed,  the  archivolts  were  doubled,  the  bays 
widened,  and  the  old  columns  replaced  by  compound  piers. 
In  the  transept  his  work  still  exists  in  the  west  wall  (north 
arm)  where  are  two  stories  of  arcades  supported  by  thick, 
short,  cylinder  piers  whose  capitals  are  coarsely  carved  acanthus 
leaves. 

The  rest  of  the  transept  (save  what  was  added  in  1170  to 
connect  it  with  the  Gothic  choir  and  the  re-dressed  nave)  is 
the  work  of  Abbot  Herimar  who  raised  the  west  towers.  Under 
him  occurred  the  notable  dedication  of  St.  Remi's  new  Roman- 
esque church,  in  1049,  by  Leo  IX,  the  reformer,  with  whom 
the  Benedictine  Order  took  possession  of  the  papacy  for  some 
vital  years  of  needed  regeneration. 

St.  Bruno  of  Cologne,  the  future  founder  of  the  Carthusian 
Order,  was  a  student  in  the  episcopal  school  of  Rheims  while 

117 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Romanesque  St.  Remi  was  building.  And  later  he  returned 
from  Germany  to  direct  the  school  from  1057  to  1075  with 
great  prestige.  His  most  notable  pupil,  Eudes  de  Chatillon, 
became  the  pope  of  the  First  Crusade,  Urban  II.  Feeling 
the  call  for  a  life  of  prayer  and  retirement,  Bruno  thought  of 
joining  the  group  of  earnest  men  about  to  commence  the 
Cistercian  Order,  but  his  destiny  led  him  to  Grenoble,  near 
which  in  the  mountains  he  began  the  Grande  Chartreuse 
(1084)  where  they  say  reform  never  was  needed.1 

In  St.  Remi's  abbatial  the  last  phase  of  Gothic  art  was  to 
be  represented.  The  transept's  south  fagade  is  Flamboyant, 
and  over  its  sculptured  portal  is  a  highly  colored  XV-century 
window.  The  facade  was  finished  by  Abbot  Robert  de  Lenon- 
court  (d.  1531),  who  later  became  archbishop  of  Rheims.  To 
his  abbey  church  he  presented  ten  rich  tapestries  relating  the 
life  of  the  first  bishop  of  the  city,  St.  Remigius,  who  baptized 
Clovis  in  496,  and  whose  rule  of  seventy  years  is  the  longest 
spiritual  reign  on  record.  Clovis  and  Clotilda  founded  the 
abbey.  At  its  church  altar  St.  Louis  was  knighted.  On  the 
day  of  Charles  VII's  coronation  the  barons  rode  their  steeds 
into  the  basilica,  dismounting  at  the  sanctuary  to  ask  for  the 
sacred  ampulla  needed  for  the  king's  anointing  in  the  cathedral. 

In  the  clearstory  windows  of  St.  Remi's  choir  were  thirty- 
three  lancets  in  which  were  portrayed  the  archbishops  of 
Rheims  from  holy  Remigius  to  Robert  of  France,  brother  of 
Louis  VII,  who  was  ruling  here  from  1162  to  1175,  while  Abbot 
Pierre  was  building  his  choir.  The  windows  were  probably 
set  up  in  the  time  of  Archbishop  Robert's  successor,  Archbishop 
Guillaume  of  Champagne,  who  had  finished  the  cathedral  at 
Sens.  They  were  memorable  for  their  lovely  browns  and 
greens,  and  were  allied,  undoubtedly,  with  St.  Denis'  glass, 
though  executed  by  local  workers.  Deep  borders  surrounded 

1  "II  est  digne  de  remarque,  que  de  toutes  ces  regies  monastiques  les  plus  rigides  ont 
etc  les  mieux  observees:  les  Chartreux  ont  donne  au  monde  1'unique  exemple  d'une 
congregation  quia  existe  sept  cents  ans  sans  avoir  besoin  de  reforme." — CHATEAU- 
BRIAND, Genie  du  Christianisme. 

In  April,  1903,  two  squadrons  of  dragoons  expelled  the  last  monks  from  La  Grande 
Chartreuse.  An  economic  loss  for  the  entire  region  has  resulted. 

118 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

each  lancet.  Similar  ornate  borders  and  a  magnificent  deep 
blue  color  distinguished  still  older  Xll-century  windows  in 
the  tribune  gallery.  The  central  lancet  was  an  extraordinary 
Crucifixion,  somewhat  like  that  at  Poitiers.  An  irreparable 
loss  to  art  is  the  destruction  of  St.  Remi's  windows,  though  it 
is  said  that  some  of  them  were  dismounted  in  time  and  carried 
to  a  place  of  safety. 

ST.  QUIRIACE  CHURCH  i  AT  PROVINS 

Provins,  une  des  plus  charmantes  villes  de  France,  rivalise  avec  la  vsJl£e 
de  Cachemire.  .  .  .  Des  croise"s  rapporterent  les  roses  de  Jericho  dans  cette 
delicieuse  vall£e,  ou,  par  hasard,  elles  prirent  des  quality's  nouvelles,  sans 
rien  perdre  de  leur  couleurs. — BALZAC,  Pierrette  (whose  scene  is  Provins). 

Another  Primary  Gothic  church  in  Champagne  is  St. 
Quiriace  at  Provins,  which  one  goes  out  of  one's  way  to  see 
because  Provins  is  one  of  the  most  individual  little  towns  in 
France,  still  in  part  surrounded  by  massive  XII-  and  XIII- 
century  ramparts.  Thibaut  IV  the  Singer  added  to  the  great 
walls  of  the  lower  town  about  1230.  They  say  that  when 
crusaders  drew  near  to  Jerusalem  on  its  hill  encircled  by  its 
walls  and  towers  they  often  cried  out,  "Provins!"  Once  the 
population  of  this  shrunken  little  city  rivaled  that  of  Paris. 
Here  were  held  annual  fairs  to  which  flocked  the  merchants  of 
Europe,  and  the  sensible  counts  of  Champagne  encouraged 
their  visitors  by  wise  regulations  and  strictest  justice.  The 
money  of  Provins  was  accepted  in  Florence  and  Rome. 

The  valley  of  roses  was  the  favorite  residence  of  the  reigning 
counts.  Here  Thibaut  IV,  the  most  celebrated  lyric  poet  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  wrote  his  songs  that  wedded  the  art  of  the 
Midi  troubadour  with  the  salt  of  the  northern  trouvere.  His 
son,  Thibaut  V,  married  the  daughter  of  St.  Louis  and  brought 
her  in  state  to  Provins,  "ou  Us  firent  leur  entree  accompagnes 
d'une  grandef oison  de  barons,"  wrote  Joinville,  who  had  helped 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1902;  Morel-Payen,  Troyes  et  Provins  (Collection,  Villes 
d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1910);  Felix  Bourquelot,  Histoire  de  Provins  (Paris, 
Techener,  1840),  2  vols.;  Gabriel  Fleury,  "Le  portail  de  St.  Ayoul  de  Provins,"  in 
Congres  Archeologique,  1902,  p.  458,  or  in  Btudes  sur  les  portails  images  du  XIle  siecle 
(Mamers,  Fleury  et  Dangin,  1904). 

119 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

to  arrange  the  match.  Thibaut  V's  heart  is  contained  in  a 
XHI-century  monument  now  in  the  chapel  of  the  Hotel  Dieu, 
which  hospital  was  originally  the  ancient  palace  of  the  count- 
esses of  Champagne.  Thibaut  V  and  his  wife  died  returning 
from  the  tragic  last  crusade  of  Louis  IX.  Their  niece  Jeanne 
married  the  king  of  France,  and  the  prosperous  days  of  Cham- 
pagne ended  when  it  merged  its  independence  in  the  royal 
domain,  for  new  regulations  soon  impaired  the  popularity  of 
its  famous  fairs.  It  was  Countess  Jeanne  of  Navarre  who 
persuaded  her  seneschal,  Joinville,  to  write  his  reminiscences. 

In  the  days  when  Provins  was  a  world  center  St.  Quiriace 
church  was  begun  about  1160  by  Henry  the  Liberal,  the 
reigning  count  who  was  warmest  patron  of  John  of  Salisbury 
when  the  latter,  forced  to  quit  England,  lived  in  Provins. 
Little  more  than  the  choir  of  St.  Quiriace  now  remains.  In 
the  tympanum  of  a  late-Gothic  portal  is  a  XIH-century  image 
of  Christ.  The  semicircular  chevet  is  boxed  in  a  square  am- 
bulatory on  which  open  square  eastern  chapels.  The  shafts 
are  banded  with  annulets.  There  is  Romanesque  feeling  in 
the  zigzag  ornamentation  on  the  heavy  ribs;  the  round  arch 
reigns  in  the  triforium,  although  the  pier  arcades  below  are 
pointed.  The  choir  shows  a  curious  experiment  in  vaulting 
hardly  to  be  called  successful:  three  bays  are  embraced  by 
the  vault  section  of  eight  branches. 

St.  Quiriace  crowns  the  hilltop;  in  the  lower  town  is  St. 
Ayoul,  whose  portal  sculpture  (c.  1160)  is  of  the  same  type  as 
the  three  western  doors  at  Chartres,  as  is  the  portal  of  St. 
Loup-de-Naud  (Seine-et-Marne),  close  by.1  Those  who  have 
fallen  under  the  spell  of  Chartres'  fascinating  column  statues 
will  always  study  their  sister  images  with  interest. 

Epitaphs  on  the  walls  of  St.  Quiriace  recall  two  true  shepherds 
of  this  church,  one,  who  went  daily  into  the  hills  to  teach 
children  and  to  tend  on  the  sick  poor  in  their  homes,  and  the 
other,  who  opened  up  the  forgotten  crypt  and  left  a  school 

1  The  transept  of  St.  Ayoul  is  good  Romanesque.  After  a  fire  in  1160  the  nave 
was  rebuilt  as  Xlll-century  Gothic;  the  choir  is  XVI  century.  At  St.  Loup-de-Naud 
there  is  a  central  lantern  on  squinches  (XII  century). 

120 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

and  presbytery  to  his  parish.  There  is  a  quaintly  worded 
tablet  of  the  XVI  century  telling  of  the  haute  et  puissante  dame, 
the  Marquise  de  Chenoise,  who  had  "for  God  a  tender  solid 
piety;  for  her  husband  a  submissive,  respectful  love;  for  her 
children  a  Christian  and  reasonable  tenderness;  for  her  friends 
a  sincere  and  generous  affection;  for  the  poor  charity  with- 
out limit;  and  for  the  rest  of  the  world  une  bonte,  une  douceur, 
une  honestete  charmante"  One  would  not  mind  being  the  rest 
of  the  world  for  this  gracious  person.  Both  her  sons  were 
killed  in  one  week,  fighting  under  Turenne,  so  she  passed  the 
last  years  of  her  life  in  a  retirement,  which  "she  sanctified  by 
prayer,  and  her  prayer  she  nourished  and  sustained  by  good 
works."  The  robust  piety  of  Bossuet's  preaching  breathes  in 
such  records.  In  St.  Remi's  abbatial  at  Rheims  is  the  eulogy 
of  another  good  lady  of  Champagne  who  was  "Rachel  in 
beauty,  Rebecca  in  fidelity,  Suzanna  in  purity,  Tabitha  in 
piety  of  heart,  Ruth  in  sentiment,  and  Anna  by  good  works." 
Paragons  those  old-tune  ladies  seemed  to  be! 

ST.  YVED  AT  BRAINE ' 

I  am  just  back  from  the  battle  line  in  that  Royal  Domain  of  Soissons, 
where  the  soul  of  ancient  France  seems  more  itself  than  in  any  other  region, 
country  of  martyrs,  and  of  kings,  of  Merovingian  crypts,  of  the  donjon  of 
Coucy,  of  the  five  apses  of  St.  Yved — realm  of  the  first  race  of  rulers  bear- 
ing vestiges  of  the  greatest  history  of  France. — GABRIELE  D'ANNTJNZIO,  1914. 

Strictly  speaking,  St.  Yved  at  Braine  is  not  so  much  a 
Primary  Gothic  monument  as  it  is  a  link  between  that  first 
tentative  hour  and  the  fuller  development  of  the  national 
art  represented  by  Rheims  and  Amiens.  In  the  same  group 
as  Braine,  between  Primary  Gothic  and  the  Era  of  the  Great 
Cathedrals,  are  St.  Leu  d'Esserent,  Montreal,  Vezelay's  choir, 
and  the  church  of  St.  Laumer  at  Blois. 

Braine,  on  the  ancient  Roman  highroad  between  Rheims 
and  Soissons,  had  been  a  farm  of  the  Frankish  kings.  In 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1911,  p.  428,  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis;  S.  Prioux,  Monographic 
de  I'ancienne  abbaye  royale  St.  Yved  de  Braine  (1859),  folio;  Bulletin  Monumental,  1908, 
vol.  72,  p.  455,  A.  Boinet. 

121 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  VII  century  it  belonged  to  the  father  of  St.  Ouen,  and 
it  was  here  that  the  future  bishop  of  Rouen,  as  a  child,  was 
blessed  by  a  passing  guest,  the  Irish  missionary  St.  Colum- 
banus,  whose  Celtic  rule  of  Luxeuil  dominated,  in  Gaul,  the 
century  called  of  saints. 

Lady  Agnes  of  Braine  espoused  a  son  of  Louis  VI,  the 
turbulent  Count  of  Dreux  (d.  1188),  and,  from  them  came 
the  funds  for  St.  Yved,  the  second  foundation  of  the  new 
Order  of  Premontre.  The  recorded  date  of  the  enterprise 
is  from  1180  to  1216,  but  as  the  church  is  perfectly  homo- 
geneous, it  must  have  been  built  in  one  campaign,  probably 
in  main  part  before  the  dedication  of  1216. 

As  a  composition,  the  plan  of  the  collegiate  is  original. 
The  apse  chapels  on  each  side  of  the  choir  chapel  are  placed 
on  the  bias  so  that  the  sanctuary  opens  out  like  a  fan,  with 
five  altars  visible  at  the  same  time.  The  arrangement  was 
copied  in  far-off  Hungary  in  St.  Martin's  church  at  Kassovie, 
built  for  the  king  by  the  wandering  Picard  artist  Villard 
de  Honnecourt.  In  Cologne  the  church  of  St.  Gereon,  and 
in  Marburg  that  of  St.  Elizabeth,  show  the  influence  of 
Braine.  St.  Leger's  abbatial  at  Soissons  copied  it.  St. 
Yved  has  a  square  transept-crossing  tower  that  opens  still 
farther  the  central  part  of  the  edifice.  Carved  about  the 
interior  is  a  cordon  of  free  springtime  foliage.  There  is 
youth  in  every  line  of  this  beautiful  white  church.  The 
superb  monocylindrical  columns  and  their  capitals  are  robust 
virility  itself.  Everywhere  is  firmness  of  touch,  and  never 
has  the  unity  been  marred  by  patchwork  reconstructions. 
Like  its  neighbor,  Soissons,  the  same  nicety  of  stonework 
is  shown. 

Before  the  Revolution  the  collegiate  at  Braine  harbored 
an  unparalleled  collection  of  tombs,  since  here  for  centuries 
were  laid  to  rest  the  barons  and  bishops  of  the  proud  family 
of  Dreux,  warriors  at  Bouvines,  crusaders,  and  donors  of 
storied  windows  at  Chartres  and  Rheims.  The  four  west 
bays  of  the  church  of  Braine  were  stupidly  demolished  after 

the   Revolution,    because    funds   for    repairs    were    at    that 

122 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

time  lacking.  From  the  destroyed  portal  were  saved  the 
two  statues  now  set  in  the  choir's  wall.  They  represent  the 
Coronation  of  Our  Lady;  the  robes  flow  easily  and  there  is 
scarcely  a  touch  of  Byzantine  rigidity  left  in  them. 

Twice  during  the  late  World  War  was  Braine's  collegiate 
in  the  direct  path  of  invasion.  The  first  battle  of  the  Marne 
freed  it,  but  in  May,  1918,  the  Germans  again  entered  the 
little  town.  Then  swept  forward  the  second  battle  of  the 
Marne,  and  Braine  was  liberated  in  September.  One  can 
only  pray  that,  in  such  hasty  retreats,  St.  Yved  escaped 
mutilation. 

ST.  LEU  D'ESSERENT  * 

I  think  that  that  style  which  is  called  Gothic  is  endowed  with  a  profound 
and  a  commanding  beauty,  such  as  no  other  style  possesses  .  .  .  and  which 
probably  the  Church  will  not  see  surpassed  till  it  attain  to  the  Celestial 
City.  .  .  .  The  Gothic  style  is  as  harmonious  and  as  intellectual  as  it  is 
graceful. — CARDINAL  NEWMAN. 

St.  Leu  d'Esserent  is  one  of  the  small  but  perfect  churches 
of  the  classic  Ile-de-France  that  satisfy  both  eye  and  soul  by 
the  exquisite  justness  of  their  proportions.  Its  serene  white 
charm  is  unobtrusive.  Only  a  master  of  the  inmost  heart 
of  France  could  have  produced  the  assured  Tightness  of  its 
proportions.  Unforgettable  are  the  moments  spent  in  this 
Benedictine  abbatial  on  the  Oise;  sometimes  up  and  down 
its  lovely  white  avenue  flits  some  happy  lost  bird,  rejoicing 
in  the  paradise  of  quietude  he  has  found. 

The  quarries  round  St.  Leu  d'Esserent  were  noted,  and 
many  a  church  of  France  has  been  made  of  their  firm  white 
stones.  The  origin  of  Gothic  art  is  comprised,  thinks  M. 
Lefevre-Pontalis,  in  this  region  where  good  quarries  abounded, 
with  Senlis  taken  as  a  center.  A  line  from  Senlis  to  Laon, 
if  carried  round,  would  pass  through  Rheims,  Provins,  Monte- 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1905,  p.  121,  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  A 
trovers  le  Beauvaisis  et  le  Valois  (Paris,  1907);  Emile  Lambin,  "L'eglise  de  St.  Leu 
d'Esserent,"  in  Gazette  des  beaux-arts,  1901,  tome  25,  p.  305;  Viollet-le-Duc,  Diction- 
naire,  vol.  2,  p.  504;  vol.  4,  pp.  83,  230;  vol.  7,  p.  384;  vol.  9,  p.  280;  Abbe  Eugene 
Miiller,  Senlis  et  ses  environs  (1897). 

123 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

reau,  Etampes,  Vernon,  Amiens,  Peronne,  St.  Quentin.  Well 
within  that  circumference  lies  St.  Leu  d'Esserent. 

The  Benedictine  church  stands  on  prominent  foundations 
overlooking  the  river  loved  of  Corot  and  Daubigny.  The 
priory  was  founded  and  presented  to  great  Cluny  by  a  knight 
of  Esserent  as  thank-offering  for  his  ransom  from  the  Sar- 
acens by  monks  of  St.  Benedict.  Of  the  church  built  in  that 
XI  century,  there  remain  only  the  two  stout  columns,  with 
archaic  capitals,  which  now  are  embedded  in  the  western- 
most bay  of  the  nave. 

About  1150  the  present  church  was  begun,  and  for  a  century 
continued  building,  in  three  distinct  bouts  of  work.  First 
was  made  the  west  facade,  only  one  of  whose  Romanesque 
towers  was  ever  finished  with  a  spire,  the  octagonal  faces  of 
which  were  relieved  by  curious  lancelike  ridges  not  repeated 
elsewhere.  In  the  narthex,  or  porch  between  the  towers,  was 
tried  an  experiment  to  eliminate  the  so-called  domical  shape 
of  the  first  Gothic  vaults.  The  transverse  arches  were  loaded 
with  masonry  to  raise  them  to  the  vault's  apex.  Experi- 
mental also  are  the  ungainly  diagonals,  in  part  ornamented 
with  Norman  chevrons,  that  span  the  tribune  over  the  fore- 
church  (c.  1150).  The  ribs  are  not  free  of  the  vault  web,  so 
elasticity  is  missing. 

During  the  last  quarter  of  the  XII  century,  the  chevet 
was  built,  as  were  the  two  towers  placed  beside  the  apse, 
an  arrangement  derived  from  Rhenish  churches.  Of  that 
time,  too  (c.  1180),  is  the  double  bay,  surmounted  by  a 
sexpartite  vault  which  precedes  the  apse.  There  is  no  tran- 
sept. The  recently  finished  choir  of  Senlis  Cathedral  in- 
fluenced the  ambulatory  and  apse  chapels  of  St.  Leu.  At 
Senlis  and  here  occur  the  earliest  examples  of  double  flying 
buttresses.  The  six  bays  of  the  nave  were  added  about  1220, 
after  a  pause  in  the  works.  Previously,  each  bay  of  the 
church  had  been  lighted  by  a  single  lancet;  now  two  lancets 
surmounted  by  an  oculus  were  used,  which  added  much 
dignity  to  the  exterior  aspect  of  the  edifice.  Over  the  axis 
chapel  was  built  a  second  story.  The  unvaulted  tribunes, 

124 


SOME  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  CATHEDRALS 

above  the  side  aisles,  were  transformed  into  a  sort  of  triforium 
by  building  a  wall  slightly  behind  their  arcaded  openings.  As 
that  wall  was  pierced  by  some  odd  little  square  windows, 
this  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  first  essays  of  a  glazed 
triforium,  the  feature  which  was  soon  to  develop  into  the 
decorative  richness  of  St.  Denis,  Troyes,  Le  Mans,  Tours, 
and  Beauvais. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Notre  Dame  of  Paris  and  Other  Churches  of  the  Capital1 

It  is  important  to  meditate  often  and  with  ardor  and 
respect  on  the  documents  which  the  ancestors  have  left 
us. — ST.  THOMAS  AQUINAS. 

HE  Era  of  the  Great  Cathedrals  was  inaugu- 
rated by  Notre  Dame  of  Paris,  the  most  im- 
posing Gothic  church  hitherto  attempted.  The 
popular  voice  has  chosen  to  group  it  among  the 
chief  four,  with  Chartres,  Rheims,  and  Amiens — 
all  four  of  them  dedicated  to  Our  Lady,  though  in  a  special 
way  Notre  Dame  of  the  capital  seems  to  have  appropriated 
the  name. 

Of  the  four,  the  cathedral  of  Paris  was  the  first  built,  and 
traits  of  the  Romanesque  epoch  lingered  in  it,  such  as  the 
tribune  galleries  over  the  side  aisles,  the  division  of  its  interior 
wall  into  four  vertical  stories,  and  the  Byzantine  feeling  of 

1  Marcel  Aubert,  La  cathedrale  de  Notre  Dame  de  Paris  (Paris,  Longuet,  1909); 
Lassus  et  Viollet-le-Duc,  Monographic  de  Notre  Dame  de  Paris  (Paris),  folio;  V. 
Mortet,  fitude  historique  et  archeologique  sur  la  cathedrale  et  le  palais  episcopal  de  Paris 
(Paris,  1888);  Queyron,  Histoire  et  description  de  I'eglise  de  Notre  Dame  (Paris,  Plon, 
Nourret  et  Cie);  De  Guilhermy,  Description  de  Notre  Dame  de  Paris  (1856);  ibid., 
Itineraire  archeologique  de  Paris  (1855);  S.  Frangois,  La  facade  de  Notre  Dame  de  Paris 
(Brussels,  Imprimerie  Goosens,  1907),  4to;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "Les  origines  des 
gables,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1907,  vol.  71,  p.  92;  Camille  Enlart,  Le  musee  de 
sculpture  comparee  du  Trocadero  (Collection,  Les  grandes  institutions  de  France), 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1911);  H.  Bazin,  Les  monuments  de  Paris  (Paris,  1904);  G.  Riat, 
Paris  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  Amedee  Boinet  and 
Jean  Bayet,  Les  edifices  religieux  de  Paris  (Collection,  Les  richesses  d'art  de  la  ville 
de  Paris),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens),  3  vols.;  L.  Barren,  La  Seine  (Collection,  Fleuves  de 
France),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  Emile  Lambin,  Laflore  des  grandes  cathedrales  de  France, 
(Paris,  1897);  ibid.,  Les  eglises  des  environs  de  Paris  etudiees  au  point  de  vue  de  laflore 
ornamentale  (Paris,  1896),  folio;  ibid.,  Les  eglises  de  V Ile-de-France  (Paris,  1906) ; 
Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  "Notices  sur  les  eglises  des  environs  de  Paris,"  in  Bulletin  Mon- 
umental, vol.  34,  p.  861,  and  vol.  35,  p.  709;  Alexis  Martin,  Excursions  dans  les  environs 
de  Paris  (Paris,  1900);  Henri  Stein.  Les  architcctes  des  cathedrales  gothiques  (Paris, 
1908);  Emile  Male,  L'art  religieux  du  XI1T  sicclc  en  France  (Paris,  Colin,  1908),  4to. 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

its  earlier  sculpture.  The  piers  were  massive  single  columns 
of  true  majesty.  In  the  sixth  pier  of  the  nave,  counting 
from  the  east,  an  experiment  was  tried  when  an  engaged 
shaft  was  added  to  its  front.  The  seventh  pier  (c.  1192) 
marks  a  date  in  the  development  of  Gothic  structure  since 
with  it  was  made  the  type  of  ground  support  which  was  to 


JS 


Notre  Dame  of  Paris.     View  from  the  South 


predominate  in  the  XIII  century — four  engaged  shafts  around 
a  central  pillar.  When  the  middle  core  was  made  elliptical, 
as  at  Beauvais,  the  type  pier  was  achieved. 

Notre  Dame  of  Paris  used  the  sexpartite  system  which 
calls  for  alternating  ground  supports.  Either  the  uniform 
piers  here  were  laid  before  a  sexpartite  vault  was  thought  of, 
or  else  the  architect  preferred  them  for  aesthetic  reasons, 
and  in  this  case  he  certainly  was  right.  Double  aisles  about 
both  nave  and  choir  differentiate  the  interior  of  Notre  Dame 

127 


of  Paris  from  that  of  the  average  cathedral.  The  far-stretching 
aisles  of  this  church  compose  vistas  of  unsurpassed  picturesque- 
ness  and  variety  of  perspective.  Some  have  said  that  the  central 
nave  is  not  sufficiently  wide  for  such  a  stretch  of  lateral  aisles, 
and  have  found  a  certain  monotony  in  the  clearstory,  tribune, 
and  pier  arcade  being  of  equal  height.  Originally,  beneath 
the  clearstory  were  small  circular  unglassed  apertures  giving 
on  the  rafters  over  the  tribune.  Those  oculf  were  done  away 
with  during  the  XIII  century,  when  the  clearstory  windows 
were  lengthened  for  the  better  lighting  of  the  church.  During 
his  able  restoration  of  Notre  Dame,  M.  Viollet-le-Duc  found 
hidden  under  the  pavement  some  of  the  discarded  window 
frames,  and  he  took  the  liberty  (which  many  regret)  of  re- 
placing a  few  in  the  bays  near  the  transept,  thus  marring  the 
uniformity  of  the  interior. 

Despite  the  enlargement  of  the  upper  windows  and  the 
changes  made  to  give  more  light  to  the  tribunes,  none  can  deny 
that,  in  gloomy  weather,  Notre  Dame  can  be  somber  and  even 
cavernous.  Yet  who,  of  its  devotees,  would  have  it  different? 
Supreme  cathedral  it  is  for  that  supremest  of  hymns,  the 
Dies  Iras — sound  and  sense  and  vision  welded.  To  exchange 
its  severe  majesty  for  an  expanse  of  brilliant  glass — save 
Suger's  glass — is  unthinkable.  In  Notre  Dame  you  compre- 
hend the  spectacular  repentances  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Here, 
when  pestilence  stalked  the  city  or  the  enemy  was  at  the  gate, 
have  echoed  the  Miser er 3  and  the  Libera  nos,  Domine.1 

There  is  an  individuality  in  the  cathedral  of  Paris  that  over- 
rides every  criticism.  Perpetually  does  the  worshiper  find 
in  it  new  aspects,  in  the  dim,  low  aisles  full  of  mystery,  in  the 
gleam  of  transept  windows  as  seen  through  the  tribune  arches 
while  one  listens,  perhaps,  to  a  lenten  friar  preacher  discoursing 
of  sin,  justice,  and  the  judgment  to  come;  here  on  the  very 
spot  where  Dominic  himself  taught  the  same  sobering  lessons; 
here  where,  six  hundred  years  later,  his  son,  Lacordaire,  held 
the  manhood  of  Paris  spellbound.  Or,  again,  one  gazes  down 

"  Les  ardentcs  pricres,  Ics  sanglots  desesperes  du  moyen  age  avaient  a  jamais 
impregne  ces  piliers  et  tanne  ces  murs." — J.  K.  HUYSMANS. 

128 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

the  length  of  the  church,  with  its  incomparable  perspective, 
while  around  one  rise  the  voices  of  strong  men  fresh  from  the 
battle  of  Verdun,  fresh  from  their  firm  "They  shall  not  pass," 
and  their  Magnificat  of  thanksgiving  to  Notre  Dame  swells 
in  a  volume  of  sound  like  the  eternal  sea.  The  crusaders  of 
St.  Louis'  time  prayed,  too,  for  strength  in  Notre  Dame  of 
Paris.1 

The  curve  of  the  sanctuary  as  seen  from  the  west  end  of  the 
nave  is  one  of  the  splendors  of  the  monument,  and  no  chevet 
ever  built  surpassed  it.  The  cause  of  the  magic  is  practical — 
a  structural  problem  solved,  as  is  the  case  with  the  best  as- 
pects of  Gothic  art.  At  that  eastern  curve  extra  piers  were 
inserted  between  the  double  aisles  in  order  to  obviate  the 
difficulty  of  vaulting  such  irregular  trapeze-shaped  sections. 

The  enthusiast  maintains  that  the  exterior  of  Notre  Dame 
surpasses  that  of  all  other  cathedrals.  Certainly  better  transept 
fagades  were  never  made  nor  was  apse  more  romantic  than  that 
of  the  chief  church  of  Paris,  as  it  rises  in  three  grandiose  steps, 
with  flying  buttresses  of  wide  span  leaping  with  an  audacity 
that  fairly  catches  the  breath ;  and  again  the  success  is  a  case 
of  sound  science  solving  a  problem. 

The  west  fagade  is  an  accepted  classic,  "an  architectural 
glory  of  France,"  irreproachable.  Once  the  intelligence  has 
grasped  its  pre-eminence,  allegiance  to  it  will  never  waver. 
The  frontispieces  of  Rheims  and  of  Rouen  are  richer  and  may 
appeal  more  to  the  imagination.  It  is  possible  that  the 
severe  dignity  of  Paris  may  even  chill  at  first.  But  what 
clarity  of  plan!  Four  strong  buttresses  accentuate  the  big 
square  parallelogram.  Excess  of  ornamentation  has  been 
avoided  in  order  that  the  whole  may  stand  forth.  Lest  the 
two  towers  might  appear  to  rise  abruptly  from  the  massive, 
some  master  hand  made  there  the  graceful  open  colonnade.2 

1  "  II  me  scmbla  que  tout  le  passe  de  mon  pays  se  dressait  devant  raoi.  Tout  ce 
qu'elles  ont  vu,  ces  pierres!  .  .  .  Tout  ce  qu'elles  ont  entendu,  ces  voutes!" 

• — PIERRE  I.'ERMITE  (Abbe  Loutil) 

2 "The  first  of  the  great  Gothic  fagades  in  point  of  dignity  is  undoubtedly  that  of 
Paris,  a  design  of  which  no  words  can  express  the  exalted  beauty.  Grandeur  of  com- 
position, nobility  of  silhouette,  perfection  of  proportion,  wealth  of  detail,  infinitely 

129 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  facade  of  Notre  Dame  is  true  to  its  epoch  in  its  appeal 
to  the  intellect  rather  than  to  the  emotions.  It  was  built  in 
the  golden  age  of  scholasticism,  when  religion  and  philosophy 
went  hand  in  hand,  when  the  teachers  in  the  schools  of  Paris, 
the  citS  lettre,  the  ceil  du  monde,  thought  that  Faith  and 
Reason  could  give  mutual  aid  one  to  the  other,  that  the  truths 
of  Revelations  could  coincide  with  the  natural  judgment. 

Scholasticism  has  been  belittled  by  the  modern  sophists  from 
the  time  of  the  XVIII-century  Encyclopaedist  to  the  XIX- 
century  superman.  Yet  scholasticism  was  an  important  factor 
in  the  formation  of  the  French  intellect,  which,  in  its  virile 
youth,  it  put  through  a  course  of  useful  mental  gymnastics. 
Precisely  the  race,  whose  ancestors  sharpened  their  wits  in 
the  Sic-et-Non  debates  of  the  mediaeval  schools  of  Paris,  is 
to-day  pre-eminent  in  precision  of  language  and  freedom  from 
fogginess  of  thought.  Easy  enough  for  the  modern  mind  to 
ridicule  the  quarrel  of  generations  over  nominalism  and  realism, 
pursued  with  the  personal  heat  of  a  modern  political  campaign.1 
Certainly  the  abuse  of  the  scholastic  system  led  to  hair- 
splitting disputes,  for  the  deductive  method,  when  carried  to 
excess,  ends  in  thin  subtlety.  But  why  judge  a  system  by  its 
extremes?  Because  XlV-century  architecture  grew  rigid  with 
set  formulas  and  the  abuse  of  its  own  laws,  does  that  discredit 
the  virile  period  to  which  it  succeeded? 

The  bishops  who  built  Notre  Dame  were  notable  scholastics. 
The  generations  who  built  cathedrals  were  impregnated  with 
the  certainty  that  what  was  Christian  was  rational.  Scholas- 
ticism produced  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  whose  philosophy  has 
outlived  a  dozen  systems,  whose  Summa  was  placed  on  the 
assembly  table  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  the  sole  companion  of 
the  Scriptures,  Aquinas,  whose  sanity  of  ethics  and  doctrine 
was  held  up  by  Leo  XIII  as  the  best  guide  amid  current  errors. 

With  Aquinas,  who  taught  the  inextricable  union  of  Faith 

varied  play  of  light  and  shade  combine  to  raise  this  composition,  so  majestic,  so  serene, 
to  the  place  it  has  ever  occupied  in  the  heart  of  everyone  endowed  with  the  slightest 
feeling  for  the  beautiful." — -ARTHUR  KINGSLEY  PORTER. 

1  The  problem  of  Universals  remains  still  a  real  one  for  the  thinker — how  our  intel- 
lectual concepts  correspond  to  things  existing  outside  our  intellect. 

130 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

and  Reason,  Christian  philosophy  reached  its  zenith.1  Too 
long  has  it  been  the  fashion  to  look  on  orthodoxy  as  a  sign 
of  mental  inferiority.  Professors  still  dismiss  the  Summa 
with  a  scathing  line.  They  have  never  opened  its  pages, 
perhaps,  but  second-hand  knowledge  to  vast  regions  of  human 
thought  is  no  impediment  to  a  chair  in  the  modern  univer- 
sity. "Abstractions  as  repulsive  as  they  are  frivolous,"  is 
the  dictum  of  a  group  of  present-day  French  scholars  who 
seem  to  think  that  to  belittle  things  mediaeval  is  proof  of 
patriotism. 

We  have  looked  on  at  the  rehabilitation  of  certain  mediaeval 
saints.  It  was  not  so  long  ago  that  the  poor  man  of  Assisi 
was  patronized  as  an  ignorant  fanatic.  The  appeal  of  St. 
Francis  is  to  the  emotions,  while  that  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
is  to  the  intellect,  so,  perhaps,  it  is  expecting  too  much  to 
hope  that  some  day  the  average  man  may  appreciate  this 
thinker  who  set  sane  boundaries  round  the  human  mind. 
Too  long  have  the  prime  sanities  of  reason  been  flouted  by 
hazy  abstract  thinking  in  the  void;  too  long  has  man  shut 
his  eyes  to  the  fact  that  a  crime  of  the  intellect  is  of  more 
consequence  to  mankind  than  a  crime  against  the  civil  law; 
too  long  has  applause  been  given  to  philosophers  who  oblit- 
erated the  distinctions  between  right  and  wrong — like  Hegel, 
teaching  the  identity  of  Being  and  non-Being — so  that  the 
very  soul  of  the  peoples  grew  perverted  and  appalling  cata- 
clysms threatened  civilization. 

What  the  older  centuries  thought  of  Aquinas,  the  painter 


1  In  his  Summa  totius  theologies  St.  Thomas  held  that  the  existence  of  God  was  to 
be  known  by  reason.  He  took  his  stand  on  a  palpable  fact — the  existence  of  creatures. 
He  began  with  the  fecund  idea  of  motion,  the  stars  in  their  orbits,  man  engendering 
man.  If  there  is  movement  there  must  be  a  First  Motor.  If  there  ever  had  been 
an  instant  when  nothing  was,  nothing  ever  would  have  been.  Effects  must  have  a 
cause.  Either  nothing  is,  which  is  an  absurdity,  or  there  must  be  One  Being  eternally 
immutable. 

That  the  movement  is  ordered,  such  as  night  and  day,  season  following  season, 
shows  a  supreme  power  directing.  That  creatures  are  more  or  less  perfect  supposes 
a  perfect  being.  One  by  one  Aquinas  laid  his  foundation  stones  till  a  solid  lower 
wall  was  built,  on  which  he  reared  his  majestic  structure.  In  the  Roman  Breviary, 
he  is  thus  recorded:  "Thou  hast  written  well  of  me,  Thomas,  what  recompense  do 
you  ask  of  me?"  "None  but  yourself,  Lord!"  (" Non  aliam,  Domine,  nisi  te  ipsum!"}. 

131 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

as  well  as  the  poet  tells  us.  In  the  Louvre  hangs  Benozzo 
Gozzoli's  picture  of  the  doctor  angelicus  sitting  in  luminous 
repose  amid  pope,  doctors,  saints,  and  the  sages  of  antiquity, 
and  the  inscription  runs:  "Vere  hie  est  lumen  ecclesice."  And 
in  Milan  hangs  Piero  della  Francesca's  profound  study  of  the 
saint.  "I  place  Plato  high,"  wrote  a  sound  French  thinker, 
"but  as  I  see  Aquinas  he  is  as  superior  to  Plato,  and  even 
more,  than  is  our  knowledge  of  the  physical  world  to  that  of 
the  Greeks.  .  .  .  He  embraces  St.  Augustine,  Aristotle, 
and  Plato." 

Often  has  it  been  said  that  a  Gothic  cathedral  is  the  Summa 
translated  into  stone,  logical,  ordered,  interlinked,  leaving 
nothing  to  chance,  a  sound  skeleton  on  a  sound  base,  so  securely 
balanced  that  great  windows  could  be  opened  on  the  sky, 
like  flashes  of  intuitive  genius  lifting  the  soul  to  the  infinite. 
Many  were  the  points  by  which  St.  Thomas  touched  Gothic 
art  in  its  heyday.  He  was  a  student  in  Cologne  when  its 
mighty  cathedral  was  begun.  He  was  in  Paris  during  the 
years  when  the  transept  of  Notre  Dame  was  building,  and 
the  Sainte-Chapelle  and  St.  Denis'  abbatial.  By  blood  he 
was  related  to  St.  Louis,  and  often  was  his  guest  at  table, 
where  talk  must  have  turned  on  that  keen  interest  of  the 
hour — the  making  of  Gothic  churches.1  He  was  to  die  (1274) 
in  Cistercian  Fossanuova,  the  first  Gothic  monument  of  Italy. 
And  his  great  work,  like  many  a  cathedral,  was  left  unfinished. 

Never  was  aspiration  toward  the  infinite  more  passionate 
than  in  that  scholastic  disputing,  commune- winning,  cathedral- 
building,  crusading  age.  The  absorbing  interest  for  old 
and  young,  for  bishop  and  layman,  for  king  and  poor  student, 
was  to  know  God,  to  know  their  own  souls,  to  learn  how  to 
make  life  more  worthy  of  God.  "In  the  entire  length  of 
France,"  wrote  the  archbishop  of  Sens  to  the  pope,  in  1140. 
"in  towns  and  even  in  villages,  in  the  schools  and  outside 

1  The  father  of  St.  Thomas  was  the  Count  of  Aquin,  nephew  of  the  Emperor  Fred- 
erick Barbarossa.  His  mother  came  of  the  line  of  the  Norman  rulers  in  Sicily;  the 
same  stocks  produced  that  undisciplined,  undecipherable  genius  of  the  XIII  century, 
Frederick  II. 

132 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

them,  all,  even  simple  people  and  children,  are  disputing  ou 
the  Holy  Trinity."  Paris  became  the  center  of  the  seeth- 
ing new  interest  in  theology  and  philosophy.  In  1109  Guil- 
laume  de  Champeaux  opened  a  school  of  logic  on  the  slopes 
of  St.  Genevieve's  hill  (where  to  this  day  reigns  Paris  Uni- 
versity), and  soon  all  Christendom  frequented  it.1  His  pupil, 
and  later  his  opponent,  was  Abelard,  brilliant,  restless  knight- 
errant  of  dialectics,  whom  the  modern  orthodox  student 
finds  to  be  a  forerunner  of  the  new  method  of  biblical  criticism 
rather  than  a  rationalist. 

In  the  abbey  of  St.  Victor,  whose  free  classes  were  founded 
by  Guillaume  de  Champeaux  when  harried  by  Abelard,  there 
gathered  a  group  of  mystic  scholars  and  poets :  Hugues  de  St. 
Victor,  the  Augustine  of  his  day  (d.  1141),  whose  work  on  the 
sacraments  was  an  interlinked  system  of  theology.  Lucid  in 
intellect,  tender  in  sentiment,  was  this  friend  of  St.  Bernard, 
whom  Dante  places  in  Paradise  with  St.  Anselm  and  St. 
Bonaventure  (Par.,  xii:  30);  and  Hugues'  disciple,  Richard 
de  St.  Victor  (d.  1173),  ranked  in  Paradise  as  the  companion 
of  the  Venerable  Bede  and  St.  Isidore  of  Seville,  "Richard, 


1  L.  Liard,  L'Universite  de  Paris  (Collection,  Les  grandes  institutions  de  France), 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens) ;  L.  Maltre,  Les  Scales  episcopates  et  monastiques  de  V accident  depuis 
Charlemagne  jusqua  Philippe-Auguste  (Paris,  1866) ;  Tarsot,  Les  ecoles  et  les  ecotiers 
d  travers  les  ages  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  H.  Rashdall,  The  Universities  of  the  Middle  Ages 
(Oxford,  Clarendon  Press,  1895),  2  vols.;  Bonnard,  Histoire  de  Vabbaye  royale  de  St. 
Victor  de  Paris  (1907);  V.  Cousin,  ed.,  (Euvres  de  Pierre  Abelard  (Paris,  1849-59), 
2  vols.;  B.  Haureau,  ed.,  Les  ceuvres  de  Hugues  de  St.  Victor  (Paris,  1887);  B.  Haureau, 
Histoire  de  la  philosophic  scholastique  (Paris,  1872),  3  vols.;  A.  Mignon,  Hugues  de  St. 
Victor  (Paris,  1895);  Leon  Gautier,  ed.,  (Euvres  poetiques  d'Adam  de  St.  Victor  (Paris, 
1858),  2  vols.;  Leon  Gautier,  Histoire  de  la  poesie  religieuse  dans  les  cloitrcs  des  Xe  et 
Xle  siecle  (Paris,  1887);  Noel  Valois,  Guillaume  d'Amergne  (Paris,  1880);  E.  Berger, 
La  Bible  frangaise  au  moyen  age  (Paris,  1884);  Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  La  chaire  frangaise 
au  moyen  age  (Paris,  1886) ;  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France.  (Begun  by  the  XVII- 
century  Benedictines,  continued  by  the  Institute  of  France.)  Vol.  9,  p.  1,  "  L'Etat 
des  lettres  en  France,  XIP  siecle"  (Paris,  1750);  vol.  10,  p.  309,  "Guillaume  de 
Champeaux"  (Paris,  1759);  vol.  12,  p.  1,  "Hugues  de  St.  Victor";  p.  86,  "Abelard"; 
p.  585,  "Pierre  Lombard";  p.  629,  "Helo'ise"  (Paris,  1764);  vol.  13,  p.  472,  "Richard 
de  St.  Victor"  (Paris,  1814);  vol.  15,  p.  40,  "Adam  de  St.  Victor";  p.  149,  "Maurice 
de  Sully"  (Paris,  1820);  vol.  16,  p.  1,  "  L'etat  des  lettres  en  France  au  XIIP  siecle"; 
p.  574,  "Eudes  de  Sully"  (Paris,  1824);  vol.  18,  p.  357,  "Guillaume  d'Auvergne"; 
p.  449,  "Vincent  de  Beauvais"  (Paris,  1835);  vol.  19,  p.  38,  "Hugues  de  Saint-Cher"; 
p.  143,  "St.  Louis";  p.  238,  "St.  Thomas  d'Aquin";  p.  266,  "St.  Bonaventure";; 
p.  291,  "Robert  de  Sorbon";  p.  621,  "Les  trouveres  (Paris,  1838). 

133 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

who  in  contemplation  was  more  than  man"  (Par.,  x:  132); 
and  Adam  de  St.  Victor,  one  of  the  best  poets  of  the  XII 
century,  whose  sequences  and  rimed  proses  fill  the  liturgy. 
Another  pupil  of  the  learned  Hugues  was  Pierre  Lombard,  who 
died  bishop  of  Paris  in  1160;  his  Book  of  Sentences  became  a 
textbook  in  European  universities  for  centuries  to  come. 

From  the  cathedral  school  and  the  mount  of  St.  Genevieve 
and  St.  Victor's  cloister  l  evolved  the  University  of  Paris, 
"elder  daughter  of  France,"  whose  title  first  appears  in  1215, 
the  oldest  university  in  Europe  with  that  of  Bologna — one  the 
high  priestess  of  theology,  the  other  the  leader  in  canon  and 
civil  law.  In  the  XH-century  schools  of  Paris,  John  of  Salis- 
bury met  Thomas  Becket  and  Nicholas  Breakspear  (the 
English  pope,  Adrian  IV),  and  there  the  future  Innocent  III 
became  the  friend  of  Stephen  Langton. 

By  the  XIII  century  over  thirty  thousand  students  thronged 
the  colleges  in  Paris.  Aquinas  taught  in  the  Dominicans' 
branch  of  the  university,  in  which  same  convent,  called  the 
Jacobins,  lived  the  reader  of  Louis  IX,  Vincent  de  Beauvais, 
whose  four  Mirrors  were  depicted  in  the  imagery  of  the  great 
cathedrals.  No  age  was  ever  more  enamored  of  encyclopaedias. 
To  overclassify  was  a  characteristic  of  the  times  which  even  the 
great  Aquinas  could  not  escape.  They  say  that  over  five 
hundred  monks,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Dominican  cardinal, 
Hugues  de  Saint-Cher,  were  busy  in  the  rue  St.  Jacques 
preparing  the  first  concordance  of  Scriptures.  The  entire 
Bible  was  translated  into  French  in  the  XIII  century.  In  the 
Franciscans'  branch  of  the  University  St.  Bonaventure  taught. 
The  king's  chaplain,  Robert  de  Sorbon,  founded  a  house  where 
poor  students  could  live  in  common.  Canterbury's  arch- 
bishop, St.  Edmund  Rich,  was  a  pupil  in  Paris,  then  a  teacher. 
Roger  Bacon,  first  to  grasp  the  importance  of  experimental 
science,  studied  there,  and  so  did  Robert  Grosseteste,  builder 
of  Lincoln  Cathedral,  whom  Bacon  said  excelled  all  other 
masters  in  his  range  of  useful  knowledge. 

1  The  last  vestige  of  St.  Victor's  monastery,  foyer  of  sanctity  for  the  XII  century,  was 
wiped  out  by  order  of  a  stupid  municipality  of  Paris,  in  1842. 

134 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

The  smelting  pot  of  modern  society  those  fecund  formative 
years  of  the  XII  and  XIII  centuries  have  been  called.  A  life- 
time's study  it  would  be  to  draw  adequately  the  picture  of  the 
one  city  of  Paris  then,  when  Philippe-Auguste  and  his  grand- 
son, St.  Louis,  were  busy  raising  their  Louvre  and  their  Cite 
palaces,  their  Notre  Dame,  and  their  Sainte-Chapelle,  busy 
cleaning  the  city  streets  and  the  city  laws;  when  one  scholarly 
bishop  succeeded  another  as  slowly  rose  the  capital's  cathedral, 
when  lovely  Latin  hymns  poured  from  St.  Victor's  abbey, 
while  in  the  street  the  students  sang  the  new  lays  of  trouvere 
and  troubadour,  telling  of  "love  that  is  a  thing  so  high,"  of 
Roland  and  the  gestes  of  paladins,  of  the  Celtic  heroes,  Tristan, 
Lancelot,  and  Percival;  when  all  the  newly  awakened  intellect- 
ual and  art  life  was  astir  welding  old  blood  and  new,  making 
Frenchmen,  at  last,  of  Celt  and  Latin  and  Frank,  making  a 
kind  of  commonwealth  of  the  nations  that  met  in  universities 
whose  common  speech  still  was  Latin.1 

That  there  were  black  shadows  in  the  picture,  none  deny. 
There  were  pillages  and  massacres.  It  was  an  agitated  day 
full  of  tumults  and  heresies  and  terrible  reprisals.  One  has 
only  to  read  the  censures  of  St.  Bernard  and  of  Innocent  III 
to  learn  of  the  cupidity  and  the  lust.  Joinville  has  told  of  a 
sink  of  corruption  lying  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  saint- 
king's  crusading  camp.  But,  above  all  the  lawlessness,  the  men 
of  those  ages  of  faith  aspired.  Their  acts  might  fall  short;  their 
principles  remained  sound.  "No  easy-going  doctrines,  then,  to 
legitimize  vice,"  says  Ozanam.  Man  knew  how  to  beat  his 
breast  in  humble  repentance.  He  lifted  his  eyes  toward  an 
ideal  so  far  above  himself  that  it  was  given  his  human  weakness 
to  build  cathedrals  such  as  Notre  Dame  of  the  capital.  Not  so 
does  he  build  when  as  superman  he  sits  on  a  self -raised  altar. 


1  Petit  de  Julleville,  ed.,  Histoire  de  la  langue  et  de  la  litterature  franqai.se  (Paris, 
Colin,  1900),  8  vols.  In  vols.  1  and  2  the  Middle  Ages  are  treated  by  Gaston  Paris, 
Leon  Gautier,  and  Joseph  Bedier;  Gaston  Paris,  La  liiterature  du  XI le  siecle  (Paris, 
Hachette,  1895).  He  places  the  classic  epoch  of  the  literature  of  the  Middle  Ages 
between  1108  (opening  of  Louis  VI's  reign)  and  1223  (end  of  Philippe-Auguste's  rule); 
Joseph  Bedier,  Les  legendes  epiques  (Paris,  H.  Champion,  1908-13),  4  vols.;  Remy 
de  Gourmont,  Le  Latin  mystique. 

135 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  virtuous  bishop,  who  had  most  to  do  with  the  erection 
of  the  cathedral  of  Paris,  had  been  a  student  and  later  a 
teacher  of  scholasticism.  Maurice  de  Sully  was  born  of 
simple  parentage  in  the  village  of  Sully-sur-Loire,  and  he 
came  as  a  poor  scholar  to  the  great  city.  His  abilities  and  the 
integrity  of  his  conduct  won  him  recognition,  and  after  teach- 
ing belles-lettres,  he  was  elected  to  the  see  of  Paris  as  the 
seventy-second  successor  of  St.  Denis.  From  1160  to  1196 
he  directed  his  diocese,  a  true  shepherd  whose  special  care 
was  the  training  of  young  priests.  Crowds  flocked  to  his 
sermons,  wrote  a  contemporary.  He  took  an  active  part  on 
the  side  of  Thomas  Becket  during  the  English  archbishop's 
struggle  with  Henry  II,  and  it  was  he  who  consecrated  as 
bishop  of  Chartres  Becket's  friend,  the  intellectual  John  of 
Salisbury.  To  Bishop  Maurice,  who  had  baptized  him, 
Philippe-Auguste  left  the  care  of  the  Royal  Treasury  when  he 
went  on  the  Third  Crusade.  So  wisely  did  this  churchman 
administer  his  revenues  that  he  was  able  to  build  hospitals 
and  abbeys,  as  well  as  erect,  in  larger  part  by  his  personal 
donations,  his  own  cathedral. 

The  first  stone  of  Notre  Dame  was  laid  in  1163,  and  tra- 
dition says  that  Alexander  III  officiated  in  the  same  month 
that  he  dedicated  for  the  Benedictines  the  new  choir  of  St. 
Germain-des-Pres;  the  exiled  pontiff  resided  in  France  for  four 
years.  Though  the  name  of  the  architect  of  Notre  Dame 
has  not  survived,  his  design  was  adhered  to  during  a  century 
and  a  half.  A  transept  was  not  in  his  plan;  however,  a  short 
one  was  inserted  before  the  nave  was  laid  down.  That  nave 
was  nearly  finished  when  Bishop  Maurice  de  Sully  died,  in 
1196,  leaving  large  sums,  in  his  testament,  for  the  completion 
of  his  beloved  church.  The  two  westernmost  bays  of  the 
nave  are  not  of  the  bishop-founder's  time. 

Notre  Dame,  because  of  interruptions  in  its  construction, 
presents  an  irregular  alignment,  and  it  is  easy  to  perceive, 
as  one  gazes  along  its  vaulting,  that  its  choir  slopes  toward 
the  north.  Archaeologists  have  given  up  the  poetic  explana- 
tion that  the  slanting  choir  was  symbolic  of  the  droop  of 

136 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

Christ's  head  on  the  cross.  Nor  can  the  symbol  seeker  now 
call  the  Porte  Rouge  (an  extra  door  in  the  north  wall  of  the 
choir)  a  souvenir  of  the  spear-wound  of  the  Saviour,  since  if 
made  with  such  intention  it  would  have  been  placed  below 
the  extended  arms  of  the  transept. 

Three  campaigns  of  work  built  Notre  Dame,  and  each  time 
that  the  work  was  resumed  the  axis  deviated  slightly.  First 
rose  the  choir  and  a  short  transept.  Then  was  done  the  nave, 
save  its  westernmost  bays.  And  finally,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  XIII  century,  they  undertook  the  west  fagade  and  the 
two  bays  behind  it.  The  carving  on  the  pier's  capitals  shows 
the  gradual  advance  in  sculpture:  in  the  choir  they  cut  the 
large  leaves  of  water  plants  which  were  the  first  nature  models 
copied  when  the  conventional  Byzantine  models  were  dis- 
carded. Then,  in  the  nave,  the  foliage  grew  richer,  and  oak 
and  vine  and  curled-up  ferns  appeared.  Capital  by  capital 
should  be  studied,  for  their  sculpture  is  masterly.  The  capitals 
of  the  nave's  triforium  are  said  to  mark  the  culmination  of 
Gothic  art  in  foliate  design.  While  unity  was  kept  through- 
out the  entire  arcade,  there  was  unceasing  variation  in  details. 

When  Bishop  Maurice  de  Sully,  the  peasant,  died,  he  was 
succeeded  by  Bishop  Eudes  de  Sully,  the  feudal  baron,  de- 
scended from  the  reigning  counts  of  Champagne,  from  Louis 
VII  and  Alienor  of  Aquitaine,  and  in  whose  veins  ran  the 
blood  of  William  the  Conqueror  through  his  daughter  Adela. 
The  ability  to  build  was  his  by  inheritance.  He  began  the 
west  fagade,  and  probably  at  his  death  all  three  of  the  portals 
were  in  place.  To  him  we  owe  that  fairest  of  sculptured 
entrances,  the  Virgin's  door,  under  the  northwest  tower,  called 
"the  most  beautiful  page  of  stone  that  the  Middle  Ages  have 
left  us."  Visibile  palare  are  Dante's  words  for  such  art  as 
this.  In  the  carved  tympanum,  "Gothic  art  reached  the 
simple  perfection  of  Phidias."  The  draperies  flow  easily; 
only  in  the  abrupt  turning  up  of  the  edges  of  the  robes  lingers 
an  archaic  touch.  Below  are  represented  kings  and  prophets, 
the  ancestors  of  Mary.  Above  them  is  a  moving  version  of 
the  Assumption;  and  in  the  upper  triangle  is  the  Coronation 

137 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

of  the  Queen  of  Heaven  by  her  Divine  Son — she,  the  mortal, 
turned  toward  Him,  the  divinity,  with  a  gesture  of  adoration. 
The  Christ  is  the  Nazarene,  a  noble  Oriental. 

No  haziness  then  in  their  knowledge  that  the  patroness 
in  whose  care  they  placed  their  cathedrals  was  a  fellow 
creature.  To  the  common  sense  of  the  Middle  Ages,  it  would 
have  seemed  a  muddle-headed  way  of  thinking  to  have  called 
Jesus,  God,  and  at  the  same  time  to  have  refused  homage 
to  His  Mother,  the  one  whom  God  chose  to  honor  above  all 
mortals,  "she  who  didst  so  ennoble  human  nature  that  its 
own  Maker  scorned  not  to  become  its  making."1  It  was 
only  logical,  they  thought,  that  the  best  advocate  with  the 
son  should  be  the  mother.  "All  of  us  who  fear  the  wrath 
of  the  Judge,  fly  to  the  Judge's  mother,"  wrote  Abelard. 
"Que  Dieu  nous  Voctroie  par  la  priere  de  sa  douce  mere,"  wrote 
the  crusader  Joinville.  So,  without  worrying  over  future 
carpers  who  might  murmur  "Mariolatry,"  the  Middle  Ages 
chanted  "Laus  Deo  et  Beatce  Marioe  laudum."  And  the  cathe- 
dral of  Paris  dared  to  dedicate  four  of  its  six  doors  to  the 
Queen  of  Heaven. 

The  door  under  the  southwest  tower  commemorates  St. 
Anne,  the  Blessed  Virgin's  mother.  It  is  a  composite  work, 
carved  in  Bishop  Maurice's  time,  between  1160  and  1170, 
but  not  set  up  here  till  Bishop  Eudes  de  Sully  had  under- 
taken the  fagade;  in  its  tympanum  are  representations  both 
of  Louis  VII  and  of  Maurice  de  Sully.  St.  Anne's  door 
was  a  link  between  the  still  archaic  western  doors  of  Chartres 
and  the  clearly  enunciated  Gothic  portal  under  the  north- 
west tower  of  Paris  Cathedral.  In  the  multitudinous  folds 
of  the  draperies  is  Byzantine  feeling,  and  sacerdotal  is  the 
Madonna  who  gravely  presents  her  son  to  be  adored.  By 
the  middle  of  the  XIII  century,  the  Madonna  had  become 
a  natural  mother,  and  so  she  is  sculptured  at  the  north  entrance 
to  Notre  Dame's  transept. 

Bishop  Eudes  de  Sully,  like  his  predecessor,  had  many  a 
link  with  scholasticism  and  with  other  bishop-builders.  He 

1  Paradiso,  xxxiii:  4-6. 

138 


had  been  fellow  student  in  Paris  with  the  future  Innocent 
III,  and  that  expert  in  men  when  pope  called  on  his  aid  to 
find  capable  occupants  for  the  French  sees.  Eudes'  own 
brother  Henry  was  the  archbishop  of  Bourges  who  initiated 
the  new  cathedral  there;  and  when  his  brother  died,  Eudes 
assisted  in  placing  in  his  see  the  saintly  Guillaume,  who  built 
the  chevet  of  Bourges.  Through  Eudes  de  Sully,  the  bishop- 
builder  of  Rheims  Cathedral,  Alberic  de  Humbert,  was  elected, 
and  he  also  helped  to  elect  Bishop  Herve,  who  began  the 
cathedral  of  Troyes.  Able  men  ever  found  a  protector  in 
the  capable  bishop  of  Paris,  whose  strict  sense  of  duty  was 
incorruptible.  When  Philippe-Auguste,  his  near  kinsman, 
broke  the  marriage  law,  Bishop  Eudes  went  into  exile  rather 
than  sanction  the  scandal.  To  him  Innocent  III  sent  St. 
Jean  de  Matha,  that  the  prelate  might  draw  up  a  Rule  for  the 
new  Order  of  Trinitarians,  established  to  redeem  captives 
from  Islam.  It  was  Eudes  de  Sully  who  founded,  in  1204, 
the  abbey  of  Port  Royal,  a  name  to  become  of  note  in  French 
letters. 

The  bishop  of  Paris  from  1208  to  1219  was  Pierre  de  Nemours, 
one  of  four  brothers  who  were  bishop-builders,  at  Paris, 
at  Noyon,  at  Chalons,  and  at  Meaux.  He  died  a  crusader 
under  the  walls  of  Damietta.  Scarcely  a  cathedral  but  has 
its  crusade  memory.  The  facade  of  Notre  Dame  had  almost 
reached  the  crowning  open  arcade  when  the  scholarly  Guil- 
laume de  Seignelay  was  transferred  to  the  see  of  Paris  from 
Auxerre  where  he  had  begun  the  Gothic  cathedral.  The 
galerie  des  rois,  whose  date  is  about  1223,  was  no  doubt  his 
work.  Such  galleries  are  found  only  in  cathedrals  in  the 
royal  domain,  and  it  is  just  as  likely  that  they  honor  the 
kings  of  France  as  the  kings  of  Judea  as  some  maintain. 
The  majority  of  the  larger  statues  of  Paris  Cathedral  are 
restitutions.  Viollet-le-Duc  had  an  English  sculptor,  George 
Frampton,  make  the  gargoyles  and  grotesques  of  Notre 
Dame,  since  the  Revolution  wrecked  most  of  the  exterior 
sculpture. 

Still  another  noted  scholastic,  Guillaume  d'Auvergne  (1228- 

139 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

29),  was  to  rule  the  see  of  Paris  while  its  chief  church  was 
building.  He  finished  the  northwest  tower,  which  differed 
slightly  in  size  and  details  from  that  to  the  south;  across 
the  face  of  the  former  are  ten  statues,  whereas  nine  only 
are  set  before  its  companion  tower.  Perhaps  a  change  of 
architects  caused  the  disparity,  or  it  may  be  that  when  the 
houses  were  cleared  away  for  the  erection  of  the  north  tower, 
more  space  was  available.  Bishop  Guillaume  d'Auvergne's 
writings  show  him  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  original 
thinkers  in  the  XIII  century,  a  theologian,  a  philosopher, 
a  mathematician,  and  one  versed  in  Arab  and  in  Greek  liter- 
ature. He  became  for  St.  Louis  a  kind  of  prime  minister 
in  ecclesiastical  business,  and,  like  the  king,  he  founded  hos- 
pitals and  houses  of  charity.  There  is  a  charming  page  in 
Joinville's  reminiscences  concerning  this  able  man.  A  priest 
expressed  his  doubts  to  him  on  the  Eucharist.  Bishop 
Guillaume  asked  if  he  tried  to  resist  the  temptations,  and 
he  replied  that  he  did  so  with  all  his  force.  "Now  I,"  said 
the  good  bishop,  "have  not  a  single  doubt  about  the  Real 
Presence.  I  am  like  the  fortress  of  Montleheri,  safe  in  the 
heart  of  France,  far  from  the  danger  line;  but  you,  who 
fight  unceasingly,  are  like  the  king's  fortress  of  Rochelle  in 
Poitou,  on  the  frontier.  Now,  of  us  two,  whom  will  the 
king  most  honor  for  guarding  his  fortresses?" 

Peasant  and  prince,  crusader  and  scholar,  humanist  and 
mathematician,  men  of  exemplary  lives,  born  rulers  and 
guides,  such  were  the  builders  of  Notre  Dame  of  Paris,  and 
their  ability  and  sincerity  live  eternally  in  their  work.1  They 
gave  free  wing  to  the  soul  in  raising  their  great  church,  while 
they  cheerfully  accepted  the  human  law  of  working  within 
limits.  No  cathedral  in  France  shows  more  clearly  the 
relation  between  builders  and  building,  more  clearly  vindi- 
cates the  ideals  of  its  age.  The  partisan  historian  may  cite 


1  Some  of  the  modern  archbishops  of  Paris  have  added  to  the  prestige  of  their  see. 
Monseigneur  Affre  was  shot  on  the  barricades,  in  1848,  when  he  went  forth  bearing  a 
message  of  peace.  Monseigneur  Darboy  was  shot  in  prison  by  the  Commune  of  1871. 
Both  are  commemorated  in  side  chapels  of  the  cathedral's  choir. 

140 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

his  instances  to  prove  that  the  religion  of  that  age  was  super- 
stitious. While  Notre  Dame  stands,  such  charges  are  refuted. 
It  is  a  historical  document  as  potent  for  the  vindication 
of  the  truth  as  the  Divina  Commedia  itself. 

When  Bishop  Guillaume  d'Auvergne  had  finished  the  towers 
of  Notre  Dame  he  caused  to  be  made  the  open  arcade  from 
which  they  emerge,  as  from  a  royal  peristyle.  About  the  same 
time  side  chapels  were  inserted  between  the  buttresses,  and  the 
line  of  small  rose  windows,  which  had  hitherto  marked  the 
triforium  story,  was  done  away  with,  in  order  that  the  clear- 
story windows  might  be  lengthened.  Only  step  by  step  were 
the  builders  learning  that  they  might  open  the  entire  space 
between  the  active  members  of  a  Gothic  structure;  the  upper 
windows  of  Chartres  had  passed  on  the  lesson  to  Paris. 

The  plan  of  the  first  architect  was  adhered  to  throughout, 
and  since  the  later  masters-of- works  were  likewise  natives  of  the 
Ile-de-France  and  innate  in  them  a  classic  restraint  and  a 
hardy  daring  (the  hall-mark  of  the  best  Parisian  art  to  this 
day),  the  cathedral  of  Paris  was  homogeneous.  Midway  in  the 
XIII  century  Jean  de  Chelles,  a  precursor  of  Rayonnant 
Gothic,  lengthened  the  transept  arms  by  a  bay  and  finished 
them  with  admirable  fagades.  His  name,  and  the  date  1257, 
are  cut  on  the  foundation  stone  of  the  south  fagade.  The 
sculpture  of  that  southern  entrance  honors  St.  Stephen,  since 
on  the  site  had  once  stood  a  church  dedicated  to  the  first 
martyr;  the  tympanum  of  the  door  is  another  chef-d'oeuvre  of 
Notre  Dame.  Jean  de  Chelles  was  the  first  to  use  perforated 
gables.  It  is  thought  that  on  the  north  fagade  worked  Pierre 
de  Montereau,  the  architect  of  St.  Denis.  As  the  XIII 
century  merged  in  the  XIV  Pierre  de  Chelles,  probably  a 
son  of  Jean,  directed  the  making  of  the  apse  chapels  and  the 
superb  flying  buttresses  which  leap  unhesitatingly  over  chapels 
and  aisle  and  tribune  gallery.  He  added  the  big  tribune 
windows  with  gables. 

The  classic  restraint  which  is  the  leading  quality  of  Notre 
Dame  was  never  poverty.  Sculpture  was  lavish  where  it 
should  be.  At  the  portals  the  Scriptures  were  set  forth  in 

141 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

detail  and  saints  were  held  up  for  the  edification  of  the 
people.  The  signs  of  the  zodiac  were  carved,  as  well  as 
the  personification  of  the  seasons  and  the  months.  Pinnacle 
and  parapet  were  weighted  with  winged  beast  or  demon, 
and  the  useful  water  spouts,  or  gargoyles,  were  chiseled  as 
crabbed  images.  However,  one  should  always  remember, 
in  climbing  the  towers  of  Notre  Dame,  that  most  of  the 
present  stone  monsters  are  modern,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
weaknesses  of  the  restorer  to  overemphasize  the  grotesque 
in  the  art  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

A  strange  world  of  fabulous  creatures  dwell  on  the  roof  of 
Our  Lady's  church — conceptions  that  are  half  terrible  and  half 
fantastic,  imaginations  that  are  survivals  of  the  old  pagan 
superstitions  which  Christianity  could  not  wholly  extirpate. 
The  XII  and  XHI  centuries  were  not  so  far  removed  in 
time  from  the  invasions  of  the  northern  Barbarians,  and  the 
Church  made  concessions  to  primitive  inheritances.  Artists 
were  allowed  to  carve  on  roof  or  pinnacle  the  chimeras  and 
vampires  which  through  long  centuries  had  haunted  the 
imagination  of  their  ancestors,  provided  that  they  expounded 
the  truths  of  Christian  doctrine  in  such  principal  places  as 
portals,  fagades,  and  choir  screens.  Might  not  a  mocking 
grotesque  beside  an  angel  be  taken  as  emblem  of  the  ex- 
ternal antagonism  of  the  animal  and  the  spirit  in  man? 
The  choir  screen  of  Notre  Dame  of  Paris  is  sculptured 
with  the  apparitions  of  the  risen  Lord,  from  Easter  Day  to 
the  Ascension.  "If  Christ  be  not  risen  again,  then  is  our 
preaching  vain."1 

The  cathedral  of  Paris  during  the  first  centuries  of  its 
existence  was  the  setting  of  many  national  scenes.  Here  the 
kings  of  France  deposited  their  crown  and  renewed  their  vow 
to  be  just  fathers  of  their  people.  Before  its  altar  their  new- 
born heir  was  blessed.  In  1182  the  main  altar  of  Notre  Dame 
was  consecrated,  and  three  years  later  the  patriarch  of  Jeru- 

1  G.  Sanoner,  "La  Bible  racontee  par  les  artistes  du  moyen  age,"  in  Revue  de  I'art 
chretien,  1907-13;  ibid.,  "La  vie  de  Jesus-Christ  racontee  par  les  imagiers  du  moyen 
age  sur  les  portes  d'eglises,"  in  Revue  de  Vart  chretien,  1905-08. 

142 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

salem  preached  from  it  the  Third  Crusade.  On  the  eve  of 
both  his  crusades  St.  Louis  prayed  here,  and  in  1270,  when  his 
remains  were  brought  back  from  Tunis,  they  rested  in  Notre 
Dame  for  a  solemn  night  of  chanted  mourning. 

In  Notre  Dame  the  Duke  of  Bedford  had  his  nephew, 
Henry  VI  of  England,  crowned  as  king  of  France.  Factional 
hate  and  a  foreign  enemy  in  control  caused  a  Te  Deum  of 
rejoicing  to  be  sung  in  this,  the  most  national  of  French  cathe- 
drals, when  the  news  came  that  Jeanne  the  Maid  had  been 
taken  prisoner  before  Compiegne,  in  1429,  but  solemn  repa- 
ration was  made  in  1456,  when,  in  the  presence  of  Jeanne's 
mother  and  brothers,  the  bishop  of  Paris  (a  Norman,  and 
brother  of  the  poet  Alain  Chartier)  opened  in  Notre  Dame  the 
inquest  that  was  to  lead  to  the  Rehabilitation  of  the  heroine 
of  Orleans. 

To  the  hidden  places  over  the  vaults  of  Notre  Dame  fled 
the  illustrious  chancellor  of  Paris  University,  Gerson,  to  whom 
during  two  centuries  was  attributed  the  Imitation  of  Christ. 
In  1407  he  had  reprobated  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  (builder  of  Pierrefonds)  by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy 
(of  the  regal  Dijon  tomb),  and  the  mob  rose  and  sacked  his 
house.  It  is  said  that  for  months  Gerson  lay  concealed  in 
Notre  Dame,  alone  with  his  books,  and  given  over  to  prayer 
and  meditation. 

The  present  stained  glass  in  Notre  Dame  is  modern,  save 
for  the  north,  south,  and  west  rose  windows,  the  trilogy  of 
light  usually  found  in  big  cathedrals.  The  roses  of  the  transept 
belong  to  the  Paris  school  which  led  In  the  art  of  glassmaking 
during  the  second  half  of  the  XIII  century.  So  large  were 
the  spaces  then  to  be  filled  that  the  scrupulous  patience  of 
the  St.  Denis  craftsmen  was  no  longer  possible.  Backgrounds 
had  to  be  made  quickly  by  bold,  simple  trellis  designs,  and  as 
the  most  frequent  background  was  a  red  trellis  on  a  blue  field, 
and  the  juxtaposition  of  red  and  blue  makes  violet,  in  too 
many  of  the  windows  of  that  period  prevails  a  melancholy 
purplish  hue.  Originally  the  choir  of  Notre  Dame  boasted 
some  glass  given  by  Abbot  Suger  himself  to  the  preceding 
10  i« 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Romanesque  cathedral.  In  the  XVIII  century,  those  over- 
confident gens  de  gout,  the  cathedral  canons,  whose  taste 
admitted  only  the  neo-classic,  substituted  uncolored  glass 
for  the  ancient  windows.  They  say  that  when  the  workmen 
were  removing  Suger's  priceless  glass,  they  were  dumfounded 
by  its  deep,  ineffable  blue.1 

Many  a  treasure  of  Notre  Dame  was  destroyed  by  the 
Revolution,  and  the  church  itself  was  put  up  for  sale  and 
escaped  demolition  by  merest  chance.  It  served  as  Temple  of 
Reason,  as  warehouse,  as  fete  hall.  Again,  during  the  Com- 


1  Once  the  Paris  churches  were  filled  with  late-Gothic  windows,  though  the  troubled 
history  of  the  city  has  left  but  few.  Some  XVI-century  glass  is  still  to  be  found  in 
St.  Merri  and  St.  Germain-l'Auxerrois,  for  which  churches  see  Huysman's  Trois 
eglises  et  trois  primitifs  (1908).  St.  Etienne-du-Mont  has  in  a  chapel  an  Engrand  Le 
Prince  window,  a  symbolic  wine  press  with  portraits  of  Pope  Paul  II,  Charles  V, 
Francis  I,  and  Henry  VIII;  and  reset  in  the  passage  leading  to  the  catechism  chapel 
is  the  masterpiece  of  Pinaigrier,  twelve  panels  that  are  veritable  enameling  on  glass. 
In  St.  Gervais,  where  on  Good  Friday,  1918,  a  projectile  from  the  long-distance  Ger- 
man gun  crashed  through  the  masonry  roof,  killing  many,  are  two  windows,  Solomon's 
judgment  (1531),  and  St.  Laurence  (1551),  said  to  be  by  Jean  Cousin,  also  some 
Pinaigrier  glass.  To  Jean  Cousin  are  attributed  the  five  splendid  windows  of  the 
Apocalypse  in  the  chapel  at  Vincennes,  whose  design  derives  from  Diirer's  woodcuts, 
published  in  1498.  They  have  deep  shadows  and  are  strong  in  color  and  plan.  M. 
Male  says  that  Diirer's  German  has  here  been  translated  into  graceful  Renaissance 
Italian.  Vincennes'  chapel  had  been  begun  by  Charles  V  in  1378.  Then  came  the 
pause  of  a  century,  and  the  works  were  finished  by  Henry  II,  still  on  the  Gothic  plan, 
however.  Henry  donated  the  windows  and  he  had  Diana  of  Poitiers  pictured  among 
the  righteous  souls  in  the  fifth  seal  of  the  Apocalypse.  Francis  I  is  represented  at 
the  base  of  the  second  window.  Excursions  can  be  made  from  Paris  to  places  within 
easy  distance  that  possess  Gothic-Renaissance  glass.  At  Ecouen,  nine  miles  from 
Paris,  in  the  church  of  St.  Acceul,  are  sixteen  windows  due  to  De  Montmorency 
patronage.  Originally  in  Ecouen's  guard  hall  were  the  forty-four  panels  (made  for 
the  constable,  Anne  de  Montmorency)  now  in  the  long  gallery  of  Chantilly,  the  chateau 
bequeathed  to  the  Institute  of  France  in  1897  by  the  Due  d'Aumale.  The  story  of 
Cupid  and  Psyche  is  told  in  that  camdieu  glass  so  suited  for  domestic  decoration,  a 
species  of  iron-red  grisaille,  whose  only  other  hue  is  yellow  stain.  Chantilly's  panels 
were  painted  in  the  Raphaelesque  style  by  the  Flemish  master,  Coexyen,  trained  in 
Van  Orley's  school.  At  Montmorency,  ten  miles  from  Paris,  in  St.  Martin's  church, 
the  history  of  France  seems  written  in  the  windows,  with  the  portraits  of  Francis  I, 
Henry  II,  Adrian  VI,  and  members  of  the  houses  of  Montmorency,  Pot,  and  Coligny. 
Three  of  the  lights  are  by  Engrand  Le  Prince.  More  portrait  work  appears  in  the 
many  windows  at  Montfort  1'Amaury,  twenty-nine  miles  from  Paris  (1544-78),  work 
not  equal  to  the  earlier  XVI-century  glass. 

H.  Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artistique  et  monumentale,  vol.  4,  Ecouen;  vol.  5,  Chantilly, 
Vincennes,  Pierrefonds;  F.  de  Fossa,  Le  chateau  de  Vincennes  (Collection,  Petites 
Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  E.  Macon,  Chantilly  et  le  musee  Conde  (Paris, 
H.  Laurens). 

144 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

mune,  in  1871,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  it,  chairs  were 
piled  high  in  the  choir  and  set  on  fire,  but  brave  men  broke 
in  the  doors  and  extinguished  the  flames.  Early  in  the  World 
War,  in  1914,  a  German  airship  dropped  a  bomb  on  Notre 
Dame  which  pierced  the  roof  of  the  transept's  northern  arm. 

THE  SAINTE-CHAPELLE  * 

Li  cuers  doit  estre  semblans  &  1'encensier, 
Tous  clos  envers  la  terre  et  overs  vers  le  ciel. 

— (Old  song  of  the  Middle  Ages). 

On  the  same  isle  in  the  Seine  with  Notre  Dame  stands 
the  Sainte-Chapelle,  the  reliquary  of  stone  and  jeweled  glass 
which  the  saint-king  had  made  to  enshrine  the  Crown  of 
Thorns  redeemed  from  Constantinople.  To-day  it  is  a  body 
without  a  soul,  as  the  revered  crown  is  kept  in  the  treasury  of 
Notre  Dame,  and  until  a  memorial  service  during  the  World 
War,  Mass  had  not  been  said  in  the  reliquaire  de  souvenirs  for 
fifteen  years. 

The  chapel,  which  was  connected  with  the  king's  palace, 
was  begun  in  1246  and  dedicated  in  1248.  "It  was,"  said 
one  who  knew  St.  Louis  well,  "the  king's  citadel  against  the 
ad  verses  of  the  world."  He  would  rise  at  midnight  to  pass 
into  the  chapel  for  the  singing  of  matins.  "Into  this  shrine 
Louis  IX  put  all  the  memories  of  his  crusading  ancestors,  all 
the  hues  of  the  Orient.  It  was  his  vision  of  the  Heavenly 
Jerusalem."  The  walls  were  rich  with  gold  and  color.  The 
present  polychromatic  decorations  of  the  walls  are  a  deplorable 
modern  experiment.  Fifteen  splendid  windows  told  the 
Bible  story  in  a  thousand  small  medallions;  ninety-one  scenes 
related  Genesis;  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  gave  Exodus. 


1  Henri  Stein,  La  Sainte-Chapelle  de  Paris  (Paris,  1912);  F.  de  Guilhermy,  Descrip- 
tion de  la  Sainte-Chapelle  (Paris,  1899),  12mo;  Troche,  Notice  historique  et  descriptive 
sur  la  Sainte-Chapelle;  Morand,  Histoire  de  la  Sainte-Chapelle  (Paris,  1790);  Louis 
Courajod,  La  polychromie  dans  le  statuaire  du  moyen  age  et  de  la  Renaissance  (Paris, 
1888);  Abbe  A.  Bouillet,  Les  eglises  paroissiales  de  Paris,  vol.  5,  La  Sainte-Chapelle 
(Paris,  1900);  F.  de  Mely,  "La  sainte  couronne  d'epines,"  in  Revue  de  Part  chritien, 
1899,  vol.  42. 

145 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

A  window  on  the  south  side  told  the  True  Cross  story,  and 
the  three  central  windows  were  devoted  to  the  lives  of  the 
Saviour  and  John  the  Baptist.  The  western  rose  was  added 
during  the  Flamboyant  Gothic  revival  following  the  expulsion 
of  the  English  invaders. 

The  making  of  the  vast  windows  of  the  Sainte-Chapelle 
raised  Paris  to  the  leadership  of  the  vitrine  industry  during 
the  second  half  of  the  XIII  century.  Of  that  school  are 
windows  in  the  cathedrals  of  Angers  and  Clermont,  and 
Soissons'  western  rose.  Though  of  splendid  effect,  such 
windows  do  not  equal  those  of  the  preceding  hundred  years, 
when  Chartres  and  St.  Denis  led.  The  borders  round  each 
medallion  had  now  become  mere  zigzags,  since  expedition  was 
required  for  the  glazing  of  enormous  spaces. 

The  Sainte-Chapelle,  as  Gothic  science,  could  be  carried  no 
farther  without  violating  its  own  laws  and  becoming  what  an 
English  critic  said  of  the  late-Gothic  of  France,  "all  muscle 
and  glass."  Everywhere  was  the  ascending  line  accentuated; 
over  the  windows  are  some  of  the  earliest  gables  extant. 
They  break  the  horizontal  band  of  the  balustrade  above, 
and  serve  structurally  as  weights  on  the  longitudinal  wall 
arches. 

Perhaps  it  was  because  the  architect  felt  he  was  over- 
emphasizing the  ascending  line  that  he  interrupted  the  soar 
of  the  columns  marking  the  chapel  walls,  by  placing  against 
each  shaft  the  amply  draped  statue  of  an  apostle — the  twelve 
pillars  of  the  Church.  To-day  only  the  forth  and  fifth  statues 
on  the  -north  side  are  originals;  there  are  merely  ancient 
fragments  in  the  other  images.  For  some  time  it  was  thought 
that  the  Sainte-Chapelle  was  the  work  of  Pierre  de  Montereau, 
the  king's  own  architect.  A  newly  discovered  record  proves 
that  he  designed  St.  Denis'  abbatial,  which  shows,  however, 
no  family  likeness  with  the  chapel  of  the  Cite  palace.  Now, 
that  chapel  does  display  a  certain  likeness  to  the  facades  of 
Notre  Dame's  transept,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  Jean 
de  Chelles,  who  designed  the  transept,  was  the  architect  of 
the  Sainte-Chapelle. 

146 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN   PARIS 

ST.  JULIEN-LE-PAUVRE  i 

La  France  est  1'homme, 
Paris  est  le  coeur. 

— HENRY  IV. 

Close  to  the  Seine,  under  the  hill  of  St.  Genevieve,  stands 
a  small  contemporary  of  the  choir  of  Notre  Dame,  St.  Julien- 
le-Pauvre,  built  by  the  Cistercians  of  Longpont,  about  1180, 
and  claiming  as  its  patrons  three  saints  of  the  same  name, 
St.  Julian,  martyr,  St.  Julian,  bishop  of  Le  Mans,  and  a  humble 
St.  Julian  who  had  founded  a  hospice  for  pilgrims  by  the 
Seine  and  used  to  help  the  poor  across  the  river.  It  is  said 
that  a  leper  whom  he  was  piloting  over  vanished  in  mid- 
stream, whereupon  the  people  said  it  had  been  the  Lord 
himself  come  to  test  the  holy  man's  charity. 

The  western  bays  of  St.  Julien-le-Pauvre  have  been  de- 
molished and  all  that  remains  intact  of  the  Primary  Gothic 
church  are  the  choir,  with  three  apsidal  chapels,  the  side 
aisles'  vaulting,  and  the  columns  against  the  side  walls.  The 
same  sculptor  who  worked  at  Notre  Dame  made  the  virile 
capitals  of  this  little  church. 

St.  Julien  to-day  is  used  by  the  Greek-Melchite  rUe  of 
Roman  Catholics.  It  long  was  the  patron  church  of  letters 
and  science,  and  every  year  from  its  altar  started  the  procession 
of  the  University  of  Paris  to  the  fair  at  St.  Denis  called  Lendit, 
for  the  solemn  purchase  of  a  twelve  months'  supply  of  parch- 
ment. The  rector  of  the  university  led  the  throng,  and  so 
vast  was  the  concourse  of  students  that  the  head  of  the 
procession  was  in  St.  Denis'  abbatial  before  the  rear  ranks 
had  quitted  St.  Julien-le-Pauvre.  For  four  hundred  years 
Paris  University  elected  its  rector  in  this  little  church,  and 
tradition  says  that  Dante  prayed  here  when  he  crossed  the 
Alps  in  1304.  In  his  imagination  was  then  surging  his  mighty 
poem,  and  the  men  of  France  have  pictured  him  pausing  to 
muse  over  the  images  of  Hell  at  their  own  cathedral  doors. 

1  Armand  le  Brim,  L'eglise  St.  Julien-le-Pauvre  (Paris,   1889) ;    J.  Viatte,  L'eglise 
de  St.  Julien-le-Pauvre  de  Paris  (Chateaudun,  Prudhoinmc,  1899). 

147 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  great  exile  of  Florence  was  himself  the  purest  product  of 
scholasticism,  as  impassioned  as  were  the  cathedral  builders 
for  theology  and  philosophy,  for  symmetry  and  rhythm  and 
the  mysterious  beauty  of  numbers.  The  Divina  Commedia 
was  a  poetic  Summa. 

ST.  GERMAIN-DES-PRES,  ST.  MARTIN-DES-CHAMPS,  AND 
ST.  PIERRE-DE-MONTMARTRE ' 

Ces  ve'ne'rables  Benedictines  dont  la  science  n'etait  6gal£e  que  par  leur 
modestie — F.  BRUNETIEKE. 

There  are  in  Paris  three  abbey  churches  that  show  steps 
in  the  transition  to  Gothic  art:  St.  Germain  of  the  meadows, 
St.  Martin  in  the  fields,  and  St.  Peter's  church  on  the  martyr's 
hill,  names  that  keep  alive  early  Christian  traditions — the 
first  bishop  and  martyr  of  Paris,  St.  Peter  whom  always  "the 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Church"  was  glad  to  honor;  St.  Martin, 
first  beloved  of  the  apostles  of  Gaul,  and  Bishop  Germain 
(d.  576)  who  founded  outside  the  city  walls  the  abbey  called 
later  by  his  name,  and  who  helped  to  Christianize  the  new 
Frankish  conquerors.  So  disinterested  was  he  that,  to  feed 
the  poor,  he  sold  a  horse  given  him  by  the  king;  whether 
riding  or  walking,  the  saint-bishop  ever  went  in  prayer. 

The  present  church  of  St.  Germain-des-Pres  has  a  tower 
that  in  part  predates  the  year  1000;  it  was  erected  by  an 
abbot  who  ruled  from  990  to  1014,  and  shows  the  small  stones 
used  at  that  period.  The  nave  and  transept,  finished  before 
the  XI  century  closed,  under  a  bishop  of  Paris  who  was  uncle 

1  Jules  Quicherat,  "St.  Germain-des-Pres,"  in  Bibli.  de  I' Scale  des  chartes,  1865,  vol.  1, 
p.  513;  and  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  des  Antiquaires  de  France,  1864,  vol.  28,  p.  156;  Jacques 
Bouillart,  Histoire  de  Vabbaye  royale  de  St.  Germain-des-Pres  (Paris,  1724);  Auger, 
Les  dependances  de  St.  Germain-des-Pres  (Paris,  1909),  3  vols.;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis, 
"Etude  sur  le  chceur  de  1'eglise  de  St.  Martin-des-Champs  a  Paris,"  in  Bibliotheque 
de  I' Scale  des  chartes,  1886,  vol.  47;  F.  Deshoulieres,  St.  Pierre  de  Montmartre  (Caen, 
H.  Delesque,  1913);  also  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1913,  vol.  77,  p.  4;  H.  Havard, 
ed.,  La  France  artistique  et  monumentale,  vol.  6,  p.  66,  "Le  conservatoire  des  arts  et 
metiers"  (St.  Martin-des-Champs);  A.  Lenoir,  Statistique  monumentale  de  la  mile  de 
Paris  (Paris,  Imprimerie  Imperiale,  1867),  3  vols.,  folio  (valuable  drawings  of  the 
Parisian  abbeys);  Em.  de  Broglie,  Mabillon  et  la  societe  de  I'abbaye  de  St.  Germain- 
des-Pres  (Paris,  1881). 

148 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  comprise  the  only  remaining  Roman- 
esque work  in  the  capital.  Twice  in  the  XII  century  the 
choir  was  reconstructed  by  the  monks,  first  about  1125, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  ancient  tower's  upper  story  was 
built;  and  again,  after  Suger,  in  1144,  had  demonstrated 
the  superiority  of  Gothic  vaulting.  St.  Germain's  abbot 
wrote,  in  1163,  that  he  had  repaired  his  church  in  a  new 
fashion.  In  the  ambulatory  the  round  and  the  pointed  arch 
appeared  side  by  side,  and  the  groin  vault  was  used  simul- 
taneously with  the  diagonals.  The  capitals  were  altogether 
Romanesque,  since  sculpture  changed  less  swiftly  than  con- 
struction in  those  transitional  years.  Perhaps  the  new  choir 
of  St.  Germain  was  not  wholly  finished  when  Pope  Alexander 
III  dedicated  it  in  1163,  the  year  that  the  foundation  stone 
of  Notre  Dame  was  laid.  The  choir's  triforium  arches  were 
cut  off,  later,  to  lengthen  the  clearstory  windows,  and  the 
nave  has  been  re  vaulted. 

In  the  abbey  inclosure  a  Sainte-Chapelle,  a  cloister,  and 
a  refectory  were  built  by  Pierre  de  Montereau;  he  and  his 
wife,  Agnes,  were  buried  in  the  chapel.  Fragments  of  his 
work  have  been  collected  in  the  small  garden  beneath  the 
Carolingian  tower  of  the  abbatial,  as  well  as  in  the  gardens 
of  the  Musee  Cluny.1  The  Revolution  entirely  wrecked  the 
monk's  quarters. 

St.  Germain-des-Pres,  in  popular  speech,  was  The  Abbey. 
Here  gathered  the  learned  men  of  Paris  for  mental  stimulus. 
In  its  priceless  library,  destroyed  by  the  Revolution,  worked 
those  famous  scholars  Dom  Luc  d'Achery  (d.  1685),  Dom 
Mabillon  (d.  1707),  and  Dom  Rivet  (d.  1749),  whose  tireless 


1  The  H6tel  Cluny,  which  became  a  national  museum  in  1848,  was  built  as  the  town 
house  for  the  abbot  of  Burgundian  Cluny,  by  those  two  art  patrons,  Jean  de  Bourbon 
(1456-81)  and  Jacques  d'Amboise  (1481-1514).  It  is  one  of  the  best  works  of  Gothic 
civic  architecture  in  France.  It  stands  on  the  site  of  Roman  baths,  alleged  to  be 
those  of  Julian  the  Apostate,  above  which  had  later  risen  a  residence  of  the  Mero- 
vingian kings.  In  the  time  of  the  Carolings,  Alcuin  taught  on  this  spot.  The  Palais 
des  Termes  was  purchased  for  Cluny  by  Abbot  Pierre  de  Chastellux  (1322-43).  H. 
Havard,  ed.,  La  France  arlistique  et  monumentalc,  vol.  1,  p.  161,  A.  Darcel,  on  Musee 
Cluny;  E.  du  Sommerard,  Le  palais  des  thermes  et  I' Hotel  de  Cluny;  Ch.  Normand, 
t Hotel  de  Cluny  (Paris,  1888). 

149 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

patience  and  scrupulous  respect  for  historical  truth  made 
the  name  Benedictine  a  synonym  for  "savant."  Three 
monumental  works  were  begun  by  the  XVII-century  re- 
formers who  renewed  the  love  of  letters  in  the  leading  monas- 
tic houses  of  France:  the  Ada  Sanctorum;  the  annals  of  the 
Benedictine  Order;  and  that  pride  of  French  letters,  the 
Histoire  Litteraire  de  la  France,  which  to-day  the  Institute 
of  France  is  continuing.  "Gros  livres  inutiles,"  Voltaire  glibly 
called  the  invaluable  books  which  for  the  modern  school  of 
mediaeval  archaeology  have  .made  flesh-and-blood  men  of  the 
old  prelate-builders  of  cathedrals. 

The  parts  which  have  survived  of  that  other  notable  Ben- 
edictine establishment  in  Paris,  St.  Martin-des-Champs, 
are  now  comprised  in  the  Arts  et  Metiers  establishment. 
Affiliated  with  great  Cluny,  St.  Martin's  priory  was  as  like 
it,  said  Peter  the  Venerable,  as  seal  is  like  signet.  To-day 
in  the  ancient  church  is  installed  an  exhibit  of  machinery. 
The  beautiful  hall,  once  the  monks'  refectory,  and  now  a 
technical  library,  is  thought  to  be  the  work  of  Pierre  de 
Montereau.  The  slender  pillars  dividing  it  into  two  aisles, 
the  well-carved  capitals,  the  elaborate  keystones,  and  the 
portal's  foliage  all  belong  to  the  golden  hour  of  the  national 
art. 

For  the  student  it  is  the  choir  of  the  church  (c.  1135),  built 
by  the  prior  who  surrounded  the  monastery  lands  with  walls 
(1130-40),  which  is  of  chief  interest,  for  in  it  were  taken  marked 
strides  in  the  advance  of  Gothic  structure.  Here  first  was 
attempted  a  double  ambulatory,  an  idea  which  Suger  within 
a  few  years  was  to  carry  out  in  its  fulfillment  at  St.  Denis. 
The  Lady  chapel,  a  lobed  half  dome — the  sacred  trefoil- 
developed  further  the  ribbed  apse  first  found  at  Bury  (c.  1125); 
here  the  ribs  are  structural,  not  merely  decorative.  Like 
other  monuments  of  the  transitional  hour,  St.  Martin  used 
simultaneously  intersecting  ribs  and  groins,  round  and  pointed 
arches.  Its  XIH-century  nave  was  never  vaulted. 

The  third  monument  of  the  capital  which  shows  other 
stumbling  first  steps  of  the  national  art  is  the  little  church  of 

150 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

St.  Pierre  under  the  towering  new  basilica  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
on  Montmartre.1  Till  the  XII  century  there  stood  on  the 
site  of  St.  Pierre  a  church  dedicated  to  St.  Denis,  for  tradition 
said  that  the  first  martyr  of  Paris  had  here  been  interred 
until  his  relics  were  removed  to  the  new  abbey  of  St.  Denis 
on  the  Roman  road  outside  Paris.  In  the  crypt,  by  St. 
Peter's,  on  Montmartre,  it  is  said  that  the  earliest  Christians 
of  the  region  held  their  rites.  And  to  that  hallowed  spot  has 
come  many  a  soul  to  beseech  enlightenment  on  the  eve  of 
some  projected  good  work.  Here,  in  1534,  St.  Ignatius 
Loyola,  St.  Francis  Xavier,  and  the  first  Jesuits  passed  a  night 
in  prayer  and  vowed  themselves  to  God's  service.  Here  came 
St.  Francis  de  Sales  before  founding  the  Visitation  Order, 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul  before  founding  the  Lazarists,  and  M.  Olier 
before  he  organized  St.  Sulpice.  Ursulines  and  Carmelites 
also  have  memories  with  St.  Pierre-de-Montmartre. 

A  Benedictine  priory  was  installed  here  by  Louis  VI  and  his 
queen,  Adelaide,  niece  of  Pope  Calixtus  II  of  the  Capetian 
house  of  Burgundy.  They  began  the  present  church  as 
Romanesque,  but  soon  the  new  system  of  vaulting  was  em- 
ployed. Slowly  but  consecutively  throughout  the  XII  cen- 
tury St.  Peter's  church  was  built.  Its  oldest  Gothic  vault  is 
the  one  over  the  section  of  the  choir  preceding  the  apse;  the 
stout  ribs  have  profiles  like  those  which  Abbot  Suger  was 
making  about  that  same  time  in  the  forechurch  of  his  abbatial. 

The  solemn  dedication  of  St.  Pierre'-de-Montmartre  took 

1  Paul  Abadie,  who  over-restored  the  cathedrals  of  Angouleme  and  Perigieux,  won 
the  competition  for  the  national  memorial  basilica  of  the  Sacre-Cceur,  and  began  his 
strange  Romano-Byzantine  monument  in  1873.  He  united  Auvergne's  Romanesque 
ambulatory  with  the  cupola  church  of  Aquitaine.  There  is  not  sufficient  contrast 
between  his  elongated  dome  and  the  tower.  Nevertheless,  the  immense  pile  of  white 
stone  standing  over  the  capital  presents  exotic  and  superb  effects  in  sun  and  mist, 
and  no  one  can  deny  that  a  profound  religious  spirit  breathes  in  this  new  shrine  of 
France,  as  if  the  prayers  and  sufferings  of  generations  had  already  hallowed  its  walls. 
Below  the  basilica  stands  a  statue  of  the  young  Chevalier  de  la  Barre,  a  victim  of  the 
personal  intrigue  of  a  corrupt  magistrate  of  Abbeville  and  the  lax  law  courts  of  Louis 
XV's  time,  not  in  any  way  the  object  of  clerical  hate,  as  the  inscription  on  his 
statue  would  indicate.  His  abbess  aunt  was  his  warm  defender,  as  was  the  bishop 
of  Amiens,  and  on  the  day  of  his  execution  he  received  the  sacraments  piously.  See 
Cruppi,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  March,  1895.  As  this  mythical  hero  meets  one  in 
many  a  French  city,  it  were  well  to  know  his  real  story. 

151 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

place  in  1147  with  Pope  Eugene  III  officiating  and  St.  Bernard 
and  Peter  the  Venerable  acting  as  deacon  and  subdeacon. 
Since  the  rebuilding  of  the  apse,  at  the  end  of  the  XII  century, 
numerous  reconstructions  have  gone  on  in  order  to  preserve 
the  revered  church.1 

ST.  LOUIS  AND  JOINVILLE » 

Je  dis  que  droit  est  mort  et  Ioyaut6  e"teinte 
Quand  le  bon  roi  est  mort,  la  creature  sainte, 
A  qui  se  pourront  de"sormais  les  pauvres  gens  clamer 
Quand  le  bon  roy  est  mort  qui  tant  les  sut  aimer? 

— REGRES  DU  ROY  LOEYS. 

The  greatest  glory  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  the  saint-king 
himself.  He  was  essentially  of  his  epoch  both  in  his  love  of 
theology  and  his  enthusiasm  for  building.  Under  his  grand- 
father, Philippe-Auguste,  most  of  the  Gothic  cathedrals  of 
France  were  begun.  The  majority  of  them  continued  building 
under  Louis  IX.  In  his  reign  Beauvais  Cathedral  was  started, 
that  of  Meaux  rebuilt,  as  was  also  St.  Denis'  cathedral-like 

1  Some  of  the  later  manifestations  of  Gothic  art  in  the  capital  are  the  porch  and 
fagade  of  St.  Germain  1'Auxerrois  (1431-39),  one  of  the  first  signs  of  renewed  energy 
after  Jeanne  d' Arc's  mission;    the  tower  of  St.  Jacques  (1508-22),  attributed  to  the 
late-Gothic  master,  Martin  Chambiges,  and  formerly  part  of  a  Flamboyant  church 
destroyed  by  the  Revolution;   and  the  church  of  St.  Merri  (1520-1612),  still  Gothic 
in  spirit.     The  Renaissance  appears  in  St.  Etienne-du-Mont  (1517-63),  whose  interior 
is  alluringly  graceful,  though  it  cannot  boast  of  purity  of  style.     St.  Eustache  (1532- 
1642),  begun  slightly  after  St.  Merri,  has  a  Gothic  skeleton,  "dressed  in  Renaissance 
robes  sewed  together  like  the  pieces  of  a  harlequin's  garment,  bizarre  and  contra- 
dictory, satisfactory  to  neither  taste  nor  reason."     The  old  church  of  St.  Severin  used 
to  be  employed  by  M.  Jules  Quicherat  as  an  object  lesson  for  his  pupils,  since  four 
different  epochs  are  traceable  in  it;  the  three  westernmost  bays  of  the  nave  are  early 
XIII  century;  and  there  is  much  Flamboyant  Gothic  with  disappearing  moldings. 
Abbe  A.  Bouillet,  Les  eglises  paroissiales  de  Paris  (1903);  H.  Escoffier,  Les  dernieres 
eglises  gothiques  au  diocese  de  Paris  (These,  Ecole  des  chartes,  1900). 

2  Le  Nain  de  Tillemont,  Vie  de  St.  Louis  (Paris,  1848-51  ed.,  Gauble),  6  vols.;  Sertil- 
langes,  St.  Louis  (Collection,  L'art  et  les  saints),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1918);  H.  Wallon, 
St.  Louis  et  son  temps  (Tours,  1865),  2  vols.;  A.  Beugnot,  Essai  sur  les  institutions  de 
St.  Louis   (Paris,   1821);    Jean,  sire  de  Joinville,  texte  original  accompagne  d'une 
traduction,  Natalis  de  Wailly,  ed.,  Paris,  1867.    Translated  into  English,  Bohn's  Anti- 
quarian Library,  London;    Gaston  Paris,    "Jean  de  Joinville,"  in  Hist,  litteraire  de  la 
France,  1848,  vol.  32,  p.  291;   also  Delaborde's  biography;    Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  La 
France  sous  St.  Louis  et  sous  Philippe  le  Hardi  (Paris,  1894);    A.  Molinier,  Les  sources 
de  Vhisioire  de  France  (Paris,  1901-06);   U.  Chevalier,  Repertoire  des  sources  hist,  du 
moyen  age  (Montbeliard,  1903). 

152 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE   IN  PARIS 

abbatial.  There  rose  now  a  host  of  lesser  Gothic  edifices,  such 
as  the  Sainte-Chapelle  at  Paris,  the  synodal  hall  at  Sens,  and 
the  hospital  hall  at  Ourscamp.  "And  as  a  writer  who  has 
made  his  book,  illuminating  it  with  gold  and  azure,  so  our 
king  illuminated  his  kingdom  with  the  beautiful  abbeys  he 
built,"  wrote  his  friend  Joinville. 

All  too  many  of  his  abbatials  have  been  swept  away — 
Royaumont,1  built  with  the  proceeds  from  his  father's  jewels, 
where  Louis  IX  had  worked  side  by  side  with  the  masons, 
where  he  had  passed  his  saddest  hours,  for  in  its  church  was 
laid  to  rest  his  promising  eldest  son,  whose  beautiful  tomb 
now  is  harbored  at  St.  Denis.  Gone,  too,  is  Maubuisson 
Abbey,  where  was  buried  his  mother,  Blanche  of  Castile. 
Her  bronze  tomb  was  melted  up  and  made  into  cannon 
during  the  Revolution,  but  one  knows  that  the  something  high 
and  Spanish  in  Blanche  (whom  her  contemporaries  compared 
to  stag  and  eagle)  would  have  preferred  a  cannon  to  the 
copper  pennies  into  which  were  transmuted  all  too  many  of 
the  ancient  tombs.  The  mother  of  St.  Louis  was  a  woman 
cast  in  a  heroic  mold,  daughter  of  that  Spanish  king  who  at 
Las  Navas  de  Toloso  saved  Europe  from  an  avalanche  of 
400,000  Mussulmans  and  granddaughter  of  art-loving  Alienor 
of  Aquitaine  and  Henry  II,  Plantagenet. 

The  prudence  of  Blanche  of  Castile  saved  the  kingdom  for 
her  son  against  the  insurgent  barons  of  France.  She  hastened 
to  have  him  crowned  at  Rheims,  in  1226,  in  the  same  year 
that  St.  Francis  died,  in  Italy.  It  is  said  that  the  lad  of  twelve 
held  up  firmly  the  sword  of  the  Emperor  Charlemagne,  whose 
blood  ran  in  his  veins.  The  barons  tried  to  kidnap  the  young 
king  from  his  mother,  and  when  he  escaped  the  snare  and  rode 
back  to  Paris  all  the  countryside  poured  out  to  bless  him. 
Years  later  he  told  Joinville  it  was  from  that  hour  he  dedicated 
himself  to  the  welfare  of  his  people. 

In  1234,  at  twenty,  he  was  married  in  Sens  Cathedral  to  a 
princess  of  the  cultivated  house  of  Provence;  Dante  has  a 
line  for  the  daughters  of  Raymond  Berenger  IV,  patron  of 

1  Philippe  Lauer,  "Royaumont,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1908,  vol.  2,  p.  215. 

153 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  troubadours:  "Four  daughters  had  he  and  each  a  queen."1 
Marguerite  of  Provence  was  somewhat  overridden  by  the 
stronger  personality  of  Blanche,  her  mother-in-law.  For  his 
valiant  mother,  Louis  IX  retained  always  a  passionate  admi- 
ration. On  his  first  crusade  he  left  his  kingdom  in  her  charge, 
which,  however,  he  did  not  do  for  his  queen,  when  he  last  went 
crusading.  He  had  seen  her  sister,  on  the  throne  of  England, 
tamper  with  that  country's  interests  for  the  advancement  of 
her  own  family,  and  he  recognized  in  his  Marguerite  a  strain 
of  the  same  intriguing.  She  could  rise  to  her  lord's  level, 
however,  and  was  his  faithful  lifelong  companion.  A  sublime 
word  of  hers  has  come  down  to  us:  they  were  sailing  back  to 
France  after  four  years'  sojourn  in  Palestine;  off  Cyprus 
the  ship  was  well-nigh  wrecked,  and  an  attendant  rushed  to 
ask  if  he  should  awaken  the  royal  children.  "No,"  cried  the 
queen,  "let  them  go  to  God  in  their  sleep." 

That  a  king  whose  forebears  had  fought  in  all  the  crusades 
should,  in  his  turn,  strike  a  blow  for  Christendom,  was  in- 
evitable. Jerusalem  had  fallen  in  1244,  and  the  instinct  of 
Europe  felt  the  menace  of  the  Mongol  advance  from  the 
East.  Was  not  the  fate  of  Spain  close  at  hand  to  prove  the 
possibility  of  Oriental  invasion?  So  St.  Louis  took  the 
crusader's  vow,  and  with  him  went  the  turbulent  lords  whose 
departure  gave  France  some  needed  years  of  peace.  He  had 
in  vain  tried  to  negotiate  peace  between  Papacy  and  Empire, 
in  whose  protracted  duel  he  remained  neutral. 

In  Cyprus,  in  1248,  the  crusaders  paused  before  descending 
on  Egypt,  and  there  St.  Louis  and  Joinville  drew  together. 
The  hereditary  seneschal  of  Champagne  was  a  very  great 
lord,  his  mother  being  of  Burgundy's  Capetian  line,  and  his 
Joinville  forebears  notable  crusaders.2  The  contingent  which 

1  One  sister  of  St.  Louis'  queen  married  Henry  III  of  England,  under  whom  was 
built  Westminster  Abbey   (1217-54).     The  second  was  the  wife  of    King  Henry's 
brother,  Richard  of  Cornwall,  who  was  titular  emperor  of  Germany.     The  youngest 
sister  inherited  Provence  and  wedded  St'.  Louis'  brother,  Charles  d'Anjou,  king  of 
the  Two  Sicilies.     E.  Boutarie,  Marguerite  de  Provence,  femme  de  St.  Louis  (Paris, 
1869);  E.  Berger,  Blanche  de  Castille  (Paris,  1900). 

2  Joinville,  in  Syria,  went  to  the  Krak,  the  great  Christian  fortress  beyond  the 
Jordan,  to  obtain,  as  a  relic  for  his  church  at  Joinville,  the  shield  of  his  crusading 

154 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

he  provided  for  the  holy  wars  consisted  of  nine  knights  and 
seven  hundred  men,  but  because  of  the  long  winter's  halt  in 
Cyprus  he  found  himself  in  straits  to  meet  their  expenses. 
Louis  IX,  ten  years  his  senior,  came  to  his  aid,  although  the 
ruler  of  Champagne  and  not  the  king  of  France  was  Joinville's 
suzerain.  Side  by  side  the  two  friends  went  through  the 
disastrous  campaign  in  Egypt — the  delayed  march  on  Cairo, 
which  ended  in  Mansourah's  defeat.  Together  they  shared 
imprisonment,  and  the  king's  elevation  of  soul  won  the  Mussul- 
mans' respect.  Then,  their  ransom  paid,  they  sailed  together 
for  Palestine,  and  there,  in  the  daily  intimacy  of  years,  the 
affection  of  these  two  loyal  knights  struck  deep  root.  To 
Joinville  the  king  intrusted  his  wife  and  children  in  the 
perilous  overland  journey  in  Syria,  before  they  embarked  for 
France. 

When,  in  1254,  Louis  IX  came  back  from  the  East,  he  gave 
himself  up  for  fifteen  years  to  his  country's  welfare,  "the 
most  conscientious  man  who  ever  sat  on  a  throne,"  touched 
to  the  core  by  that  divine  unrest  which  is  man's  highest 
faculty  and  does  lasting  work  for  God,  revered  by  the  "little 
people  of  the  Lord"  as  their  champion  for  justice  and  social 
progress.  "II  est  en  doulce  France  un  bon  roy  Loeys"  sang  the 
minstrels  then.  Never  did  king  love  more  la  doulce  France 
and  prove  it  more  conclusively.  Justice  was  inherent  in 
him.  A  most  sensitive  feeling  of  duty  ruled  his  every  act. 
Yet  he  knew  how  to  mete  out  deserved  punishment  unflinch- 
ingly. From  his  shrewd  and  capable  grandfather,  so  little 
of  a  saint,  he  had  learned  that  no  one  could  govern  well  who 
could  not  refuse  as  well  as  grant. 


ancestor  whom  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion  had  admired.  His  "beau  chattel"  on  the 
Marne  was  wrecked  by  the  Revolution.  His  line  had  ended  in  an  heiress  who  married 
into  the  ruling  house  of  Lorraine,  so  that  the  XVI-century  Duke  of  Guise,  whose 
personal  charm  made  him  the  idol  of  the  French  people,  was  fifth,  by  female  descent, 
from  the  irresistible  seneschal.  A  brother  of  Joinville's,  Geoffrey,  married  Mahaut 
de  Lacy,  heiress  of  Meath,  and  became  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Ireland  in  1273.  Under 
Henry  III  and  Edward  I  he  played  a  role,  and  went  crusading  in  1270.  He  left  nine 
children.  On  his  wife's  death  he  entered  the  Dominican  convent  of  Tuam,  where 
he  died  in  1314. 

155 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

That  Louis  IX  understood  his  age  is  shown  in  his  dealings 
with  the  feudal  system.  He  made  no  attempt  to  destroy  it, 
which  would  then  have  been  impossible,  and,  moreover,  his 
respect  for  the  rights  of  others  always  kept  him  from  extreme 
measures;  but  he  regulated  its  excesses,  knowing  that  organized 
anarchy  could  be  broken  only  by  organized  laws.  One  of  the 
best  laws  he  passed  was  that  of  the  quarantaine-le-roy ,  which 
forbade  any  baron  to  wage  war  on  his  fellows  without  a  notice 
of  forty  days.  The  king  favored  the  written  law  to  offset  the 
law  of  custom,  on  which  feudal  abuses  were  based.  During  a 
generation  he  had  his  agents  all  over  France  collect  old  laws 
and  customs — Roman  law,  canon  law,  feudal  privileges,  and 
from  their  composite  mass  was  created  the  great  code  called 
the  Etablissements  de  St.  Louis.  He  substituted  jurisprudence 
by  inquest,  and  witnesses  for  that  by  force,  and  he  made  a 
supreme  court  by  instituting  the  right  of  appeal.  Admirable 
were  some  of  his  treaties  such  as  that  which  made  the 
Pyrenees  the  natural  boundary  between  Spain  and  France. 
His  reform  of  the  coinage  was  another  link  of  unity  for 
France. 

In  Paris  he  organized  a  police,  protected  commerce  by 
regulations,  put  an  end  to  the  selling  of  magistratures,  and  he 
began,  there,  the  library  which  to-day  is  the  richest  in  Europe. 
In  the  garden  of  the  Cite  and  under  the  oaks  of  Vincennes, 
the  king  held  open  courts  of  justice,  and  when  his  youngest 
brother,  Charles  d'Anjou,1  tried  to  browbeat  one  of  lesser 
rank,  the  king  gave  a  legal  councilor  to  the  poor  knight  who 
won  the  case  against  the  prince.  Louis  IX's  very  enemies 


1  Often  did  Louis  IX  sigh  over  his  youngest  brother.  "Charles  d'Anjou!  Charles 
d'Anjou!"  he  would  say,  sadly.  As  king  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  Charles  won  the  title 
of  the  Merciless,  and  his  harshness  was  punished  by  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  1282.  Dante 
abominated  the  house  of  Anjou  in  Italy.  Of  Charles  he  wrote  in  the  Paradiso  (viii: 
73-75),  "His  evil  rule,  which  ever  cuts  into  the  heart  of  subject  people,  caused  Palermo 
to  shriek  out:  'Die!  Die!'"  St.  Louis  loved  especially  his  brother  Robert  d'Artois, 
whose  overhardy  courage  caused  the  defeat  of  the  crusaders  at  Mansourah.  When 
word  was  brought  to  the  king  of  his  brother's  death  in  that  battle,  tears  warm  and 
full  fell  from  his  eyes,  though  he  said,  "God  must  be  thanked  for  all  he  sends."  The 
other  brother  of  Louis  IX  was  Alphonse  of  Poitiers,  who  married  the  heiress  of  Toulouse 
and  took  guidance  of  the  king  in  his  administration  of  the  Midi. 

156 


GOTHIC   ARCHITECTURE   IN   PARIS 

chose  him  as  arbiter.    Little  wonder  that  the  people  of  France 
have  sung  of  him: 

Ha!  le  bon  Roy! 
Simples,  ignorans  supportait 
Pauvres,  meridians  confortait, 
Observant  de  Jhusys  la  foi, 
Redoutant  Dieu — 

Ha!  le  bon  Roy! 

Joinville  has  drawn  for  all  time  the  picture  of  the  years 
between  the  saint-king's  two  crusades,  a  golden  age,  if  ever 
there  was  one.  The  friendship  begun  during  their  years 
of  Syrian  comradeship  continued,  and  the  seneschal  often 
came  up  to  Paris.  It  was  he  who  arranged  the  marriage 
of  the  king's  daughter  with  his  own  suzerain,  the  son  of 
Thibaut  IV,  the  song  maker,  in  whose  court  of  Champagne 
Joinville  had  acquired  his  delightful  mode  of  speech. 

Then,  again,  came  the  call  of  the  East.  Jaffa  and  Antioch 
had  fallen  to  Islam,  and  the  condition  of  the  Oriental  Chris- 
tians was  heartrending.  Louis  IX  could  not  resist  their  cry 
for  aid.  In  1270,  twenty -two  years  after  his  first  departure 
from  Aigues-Mortes,  the  king  sailed  again  from  that  half- 
finished  fort  by  the  dead  waters.  Joinville  was  not  with 
him,  for  he  was  needed  by  his  "little  people,"  an  excuse 
which  his  friend  acknowledged. 

The  crusaders  had  scarcely  landed  on  the  coast  of  Africa 
when  plague  struck  them  down.  First  died  Tristan,  the 
son  born  to  St.  Louis  in  the  sorrowful,  earlier  days  in  Egypt. 
Then  the  saint-king  himself  passed  away;  and  on  his  lips 
was  the  prayer  that  his  race  might  learn  to  despise  the  pros- 
perity of  this  world  and  not  to  fear  adversity,  and  that  France 
might  never  deny  the  name  of  Christ.  The  night  before 
he  died  they  heard  him  singing,  "Nous  irons  en  Jerusalem" 
the  holy  city  he  had  never  seen,  the  aspiration,  the  magic 
name  that  stirred  those  strong  generations.1  Before  the 

1  In  1841  Louis-Philippe  built  a  chapel  on  the  site  where  St.  Louis  had  died  in  Tunis, 
1270.  In  the  Vitte  d'Art  Celebrcs  series  (II.  Laurens,  Paris),  see  H.  Saladin,  Tunis  et 
Kairouan,  and  11.  Cagnat,  Carthage,  Tingad,  Tcbcssa. 

157 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

century  closed  the  Church  canonized  him.  "House  of 
France,"  announced  the  pope,  "rejoice  to  have  given  the 
world  so  great  a  prince,  and  to  heaven  so  great  a  saint. 
People  of  France,  rejoice  to  have  had  so  great  a  king." 

"If  ever  the  golden  age  of  the  good  old  times  existed," 
wrote  Sainte-Beuve,  "it  certainly  was  under  St.  Louis,  and 
it  is  by  the  pen  of  Joinville  that  it  exists  for  us.  They  believed 
then  in  their  king,  they  believed  above  all  in  their  God,  as 
if  God  were  present  in  the  smallest  occurrences  of  daily  life." 
In  the  Histoire  de  St.  Louis  by  Jean,  sire  de  Joinville,  there 
is  not  a  mawkish  note,  and  considering  what  happens  to 
too  many  saints  in  their  biographies,  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  the  seneschal  accomplished  a  feat.  As  depicted  by  his 
contemporaries,  Louis  IX  is  so  convincingly  himself  that 
later  efforts  to  stereotype  him  as  the  sacristan's  ideal  of  piety 
have  failed.  His  "pleasant  manner  of  speech  seasoned  with 
wit"  had  nothing  of  the  prig  in  it.  From  his  childhood  to 
his  deathbed  of  ashes  in  ancient  Carthage  (birthplace  of  his 
favorite  Augustine),  St.  Louis  possessed  a  direct  personal 
touch  with  God.  "Beau  Sire  Dieu,  garde-moi  mes  gens!" 
he  rose  at  night  to  petition  with  insistent  outstretched  arms 
when,  in  Egypt,  the  "Greek  fire"  was  hurled  into  the  Chris- 
tian camp.  And  Joinville,  who  had  a  wholesome  dread  of 
the  Saracens'  projectiles,  turned  to  rest,  feeling  secure  while 
such  prayers  were  beseeching  Heaven. 

-  Louis  IX  was  a  tireless  student  of  the  Bible  and  works  of 
the  Church  Fathers.  He  had  a  passion  for  the  liturgy.  The 
number  of  hours  which  he  spent  in  prayer  has  roused  the 
sarcasm  of  our  indifferent  generation.  His  hours  before  the 
Tabernacle  bore  fruit  in  deeds.  His  temper  was  naturally 
quick,  and  he  had  a  keen  sense  of  irony,  but  his  friend,  the 
seneschal,  was  able  to  bear  witness,  at  his  canonization  process, 
that  in  an  intimacy  of  over  twenty  years  never  had  he  heard 
a  word  of  disparagement  of  others  fall  from  the  king's  lips. 

"There  was  something  in  the  mere  sight  of  him  that  found 
a  way  to  the  heart  and  affections,"  wrote  one  who  knew  him; 
"the  eyes  of  a  dove,"  said  another.  "He  seemed  pierced 

158 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

to  the  heart  with  pity  for  the  unfortunate,"  wrote  Queen 
Marguerite's  chaplain  who  had  daily  intercourse  with  him. 
An  observant  Italian  who  saw  the  king  on  his  way  to  his 
first  crusade  described  the  something  of  rare  refinement  and 
grace  in  his  bearing. 

Not  a  touch  of  self -consciousness  was  in  Louis;  barefooted, 
in  a  white  tunic,  he  carried  the  Crown  of  Thorns  through  the 
streets  of  Paris.  In  his  sublime  other- worldliness,  he  bathed 
the  feet  of  beggars,  dressed  the  sores  of  lepers,  and  when  he 
felt  that  his  soul  needed  it  he  scourged  himself.  And  at 
the  same  time  he  was  a  model  of  knightly  prowess,  who  many 
a  time  had  fought 

For  Jesu  Christ  in  glorious  Christian  field,  ' 
Streaming  the  ensign  of  the  Christian  cross 
Against  black  pagans,  Turks,  and  Saracens.1 

At  the  battle  of  Mansourah,  Joinville  saw  the  king,  "the  most 
beautiful  of  men,"  to  his  eyes,  fair,  gallant,  in  stature  head 
and  shoulders  above  those  around  him,  defend  himself  alone 
with  great  slashing  sword  cuts  from  the  onslaught  of  six 
paynims.  He  was  a  true  prud'homme,  a  name  for  which 
he  had  a  weakness,  for  to  be  a  prud'homme  meant  to  be  a 
knight,  not  only  bodily,  but  in  one's  soul. 

Side  by  side  with  his  other-worldliness  went  a  sound  prac- 
tical sense.  When  his  son-in-law,  Thibaut  V  of  Champagne, 
gave  overgenerously  to  a  monastery  in  Provins,  all  the  while 
that  he  was  in  debt,  St.  Louis  asked  him  was  it  fair  to  bestow 
alms  with  other  people's  money.  His  personal  tastes  were 
unostentatious,  but  he  held  court  sumptuously  when  the 
occasion  required,  and  he  advised  his  lords  to  dress  well  so 
that  their  wives  would  love  them  better.  He  was  ever 
human;  when  word  came  to  him  in  Palestine  that  the  mother 
he  adored  had  died  in  France,  he  shut  himself  away  from 
sympathy  for  two  days,  then  sent  for  the  friend  he  loved 
best.  As  Joinville  approached,  the  king  opened  his  arms 
to  him  with  the  cry,  "Ah,  seneschal,  I  have  lost  my  mother!" 

1  Shakespeare,  "Richard  II,"  iv:  1. 

159 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Joinville  has  recounted  a  scene  which  took  place  between 
him  and  his  friend,  that  is  one  of  the  fairest  things  in  litera- 
ture, slight  episode  though  it  is.  In  council,  in  Palestine, 
the  barons  urged  the  king  to  return  to  France.  Almost 
alone,  Joinville  held  out  against  such  a  course  while  their 
retainers  were  still  unredeemed  from  captivity.  For  he 
remembered  how  a  knight  of  his  family  had  admonished  him: 
"You  are  going  beyond  the  seas.  Be  careful  how  you  come 
back.  For  no  knight,  rich  or  poor,  can  return  an  honored 
man  if  he  leaves  in  Saracen  hands  the  humble  folk  of  Our 
Lord  with  whom  he  started  forth." 

The  king  listened  in  silence  at  the  council,  and  in  silence 
sat  through  the  banquet  that  followed,  paying  no  heed  to 
Joinville,  who  was  placed  by  his  side.  The  seneschal,  saddened 
by  what  he  thought  to  be  his  friend's  displeasure,  was  stand- 
ing alone,  leaning  against  a  casement,  thinking  that  when  the 
others  returned  to  France,  he  would  join  the  Prince  of  Antioch, 
his  cousin,  till  another  crusade  came  to  deliver  the  "little 
people  of  the  Lord"  unransomed  still  in  Egypt.  As  he  leaned 
against  the  window  bars  he  felt  friendly  arms  laid  about  his 
shoulders:  "Have  done,  Monseigneur, "  he  cried,  thinking  it 
was  one  of  the  barons  come  to  mock  him,  "leave  me  in 
peace."  Then  the  loving  hands  slipped  over  his  face  and  he 
recognized  the  emerald  ring  worn  by  the  king.  The  dear 
words  of  mock  reproach:  "What  you,  the  youngest,  dare 
advise  me  against  all  the  great  and  the  wise  men  of  France? 
Tell  me,  you  think  I  would  do  wrong  in  leaving?"  Then 
sturdy  Joinville,  who  paints  his  friend,  too,  by  the  confession, 
"Never  did  I  lie  to  him,"  made  answer,  "Yes,  Sire,  as  God 
is  my  aid."  "And  if  I  stay,  will  you  stay?"  asked  the  king. 

The  bloom  of  the  exquisite  moment  has  come  to  us  across 
the  dividing  centuries  because  Joinville  was  not  thinking  of 
making  a  book  when  he  wrote  his  reminiscences.  His  object 
was  to  have  others  understand  the  gracious  distinction,  the 
tender  familiarity  with  him  of  this  king-crusader  whom  he 
loved  and  who  loved  him.  Written  artlessly,  and  in  entire 
good  faith,  his  book  is  full  of  that  indefinable  quality  called 

160 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE   IN  PARIS 

charm.  The  seneschal's  honest  heart  is  in  its  infinitely  precious 
pages. 

In  that  other  early  monument  of  French  prose,  the  grave 
Villehardouin  rises  to  the  historian's  plane  in  depicting  the 
Fourth  Crusade.  Joinville  cannot  be  said  to  have  taken 
in  the  Sixth  Crusade  as  a  whole;  he  muddles  the  battle 
scenes;  he  digresses  to  right  and  to  left  in  idle  details,  then 
catches  himself  up  with  happy  ease,  as  if  saying,  "Dear  me! 
I  forgot  to  mention,"  imparting  to  his  chronicle  an  inimitable 
quality  all  its  own.  No  one  would  have  Joinville  different. 
Amiable,  jocund,  unaffected,  the  soul  of  honor,  candor  itself, 
he  does  not  fear  to  acknowledge  that  he  could  tremble  with 
fright  in  battle  despite  his  stalwart  six  feet  and  over.  He 
beguiled  his  captivity  by  trying  to  convert  a  Mohammedan 
by  highly  colored  descriptions  of  hell.  He  whiled  away  the 
long  hours  in  .Syria  in  composing  a  treatise  of  theology,  a 
Credo,  wherein  he  warns  every  prud'homme  to  hold  on  to  God 
with  both  arms  lest  that  felon,  the  devil,  come  between. 
And  the  two  arms  by  which  a  man  was  to  hold  on  to  God 
were  Faith  and  Good  Works.  "You  must  have  both,  if  you 
wish  to  keep  God:  one  without  the  other  is  worthless,"  warns 
the  young  seneschal.  No  quibbling  then! 

Joinville  had  also  that  quality  which  the  French  term 
enjouement,  hard  to  translate,  a  playful,  most  lovable  frank- 
ness, a  mocking  vivacity  which  was  for  St.  Louis  a  source  of 
relaxation.  The  king  loved  conversation;  he  thought  there 
was  no  book  so  good  as  quolibet,  or  say  what  you  please. 
Some  Armenian  pilgrims  besought  of  the  seneschal  a  glimpse 
of  the  saint-king.  Joinville  came  merrily  to  tell  his  friend, 
warning  him  that  he,  the  seneschal,  was  not  yet  prepared  to 
kiss  his  bones.  And  the  king  laughed,  too,  but  because  he 
knew  it  would  give  the  devout  Armenians  pleasure,  he  accorded 
them  an  interview.  Stroke  by  stroke,  Joinville  filled  in  the 
picture  of  Louis  IX,  and  all  the  while  he  unconsciously  paints 
himself  as  well.  He  is  so  eager  to  make  you  love  his  hero 
that  you  learn  to  love  himself.  A  tear  is  always  close  to 
the  eye  in  reading  Joinville,  not  that  what  he  relates  is  sad, 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

but  because  this  story  of  a  high  soul,  written  by  his  loyal 
friend,  touches  things  that  lie  deep  in  all  true  hearts. 

Joinville  was  to  survive  his  friend  for  half  a  century.  He 
died  in  1317.  With  a  character  ripened  by  six  years  of  inti- 
macy with  the  bon  saint-homme  roy,  he  came  back  from  the 
East  and  set  himself  to  work  for  his  people's  welfare,  the 
"little  people  of  the  Lord"  by  whom  he  had  stood  in  their 
hour  of  need.  He  was  then  but  thirty.  In  his  old  age  he  was 
the  accepted  arbiter  of  good  taste,  admired  as  the  last  of  a 
generation  of  courtesy.  When  over  ninety,  this  vigorous 
old  crusader  rode  into  Flanders  on  a  military  expedition  for 
the  crown.  He  had  seen  the  reigns  of  six  French  kings  and 
the  passing  away  of  the  crusader's  spirit.  He  had  seen  his 
own  Champagne  become  a  part  of  the  royal  domain,  when 
the  heiress  Jeanne  was  married  to  the  grandson  of  St.  Louis. 
And  it  was  at  the  bidding  of  that  queen  of  Philippe-le-Bel 
that  Joinville  wrote  down  his  memories  of  Louis  IX. 

France  has  high  advocates  to  plead  for  her  before  the 
Throne  in  hours  of  national  peril.  Jeanne  d'Arc  said  that 
she  saw  St.  Louis  petitioning  God  in  the  dire  hour  of  foreign 
invasion.  "May  they  never  deny  Thy  name,"  prayed  the 
saint-king  at  Tunis,  as  he  rendered  "his  pure  soul  unto  his 
captain,  Christ,  under  whose  colors  he  had  fought  so  long." 
And  in  the  men  of  1914-18,  true  prud'hommes  after  the  heart 
of  St.  Louis  and  his  dear  friend  Joinville,  stirred  the  crusader 
blood  of  their  ancestors. 

THE  COLLEGIATE  OF  MANTES  1 

The  king  was  very  well  built,  of  easy  bearing  and  smiling  countenance, 
bald,  high-colored,  a  great  eater  and  drinker.  Toward  his  friends  he  was 
most  generous;  toward  those  who  displeased  him  he  was  very  firm;  in 
his  designs  he  was  foresighted  and  tenacious,  very  catholic  in  his  beliefs, 
and  he  judged  rapidly  and  with  great  perspicacity.  Easy  to  arouse,  he  was 
also  easy  to  appease.  Upon  the  great  who  disobeyed  him  he  was  hard, 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1905;  Leon  Gautier,  La  France  sous  Philippe- Auguste 
(Tours,  Mame  et  fils,  1869);  A.  Luchaire,  La  societe  franc, aise  au  temps  de  Philippe- 
Auguste  (Paris,  Hachette,  1909);  W.  H.  Hutton,  Philip-Augustus  (London  and  New 
York,  Macmillan  Company,  1896);  Viollet-le-Duc,  Dictionnaire  de  I' architecture;  see 
articles  on  cathedral,  rose,  triforium. 

162 


Notre  Dame  of  Mantes  (1160-1200) .     The  Contemporary 
of  Paris  Cathedral 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

and  he  enjoyed  sowing  discord  among  them,  and  to  make  use  of  the  little 
people  in  his  purposes. — Portrait  of  Philippe-Auguste  by  a  canon  of  St. 
Martin,  Tours. 

From  Paris  can  best  be  visited  the  cathedral-like  collegiate 
at  Mantes  on  the  Seine  to  the  east,  and  the  cathedral  of  Meaux 
on  the  Marne  to  the  west.  Mantes-la- Jolie,  the  "well- 
beloved"  city  of  Philippe-Auguste,  and  where  he  died  in  1223, 
is  set  picturesquely  above  the  Seine,  in  whose  widened  course 
are  wooded  islands.  From  the  bridge  crossing  the  river1 
may  be  had  the  best  view  of  the  town.  The  collegiate  church 
of  Notre  Dame  stands  above  the  houses  of  the  pleasant  little 
city,  in  the  high-shouldered  way  of  many  a  French  church. 
Happily,  it  has  never  been  reconstructed.  It  has  various 
traits  in  common  with  Notre  Dame  of  Paris,  and  some  think 
that  the  same  architect  planned  both. 

Mantes'  Primary  Gothic  church  was  begun  about  1160, 
at  the  same  time  as  the  cathedral  in  the  capital,  but,  being 
on  a  lesser  scale,  it  was  finished  sooner,  and  thus  appears  more 
archaic.  Normandy's  Romanesque  zigzag  ornamentation  was 
still  retained,  and  the  cells  of  certain  vault  sections  show  the 
hesitating  rough  work  of  masons  as  yet  unpracticed.  While 
the  transverse  arches  are  pointed,  those  of  the  diagonal- 
crossing  ribs  are  round.  Too  wide  an  expanse  of  plain  wall 
space  was  left  between  tribune  and  clearstory,  for  it  was  to 
take  half  a  century  longer  before  architects  dared  fill  their 
entire  upper  wall  with  windows.  Like  Notre  Dame  of  Paris, 
the  tribunes  open  on  the  middle  church  by  wide,  graceful 
arches.  And  this  smaller  Notre  Dame  also  has  western 
towers  that  are  connected  by  an  open  colonnade.  The  colle- 
giate has  no  transept,  and  one  recalls  that  neither  had  Paris 
Cathedral  in  its  first  plan.  The  flying  buttresses  here  are 
among  the  first  ever  made.  A  striking  feature  of  the  exterior 


1  Two  miles  from  Mantes,  across  the  river,  is  Gassicourt  (Seine-et-Oise),  once  a 
Cluniac  priory.  Its  earliest  diagonals  were  built  about  1125.  The  nave  and  tower 
are  XII  century;  the  choir  and  transept  are  Rayonnant  Gothic.  Some  of  the  windows 
donated  by  Blanche  of  Castile  remain.  Bossuet  long  held  the  living  of  Gassicourt. 
See  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "Monographic  des  eglises  Gassicourt,  Meulan,"  etc.,  in  Bui. 
de  la  Commission  des  antiquites  et  des  arts  de  Seine-et-Oise,  1885-88,  vols.  5  to  8. 

163 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

of  the  church  is  the  row  of  little  oculi  that  light  the  tribunes 
over  the  aisles,  some  of  which  have  been  changed  to  windows 
of  Rayonnant  tracery.  The  deep  galleries  once  were  entirely 
vaulted  by  transverse  half  cradles  borne  on  low  lintels,  an 
experiment  in  masonry  roofing  first  tried  at  Tournus,  but 
which  never  became  popular;  at  Caen  the  tribunes  of  the 
Abbaye-aux-Hommes  had  been  vaulted  by  similar  half  cylinders 
whose  axial  lines  were  at  right  angles  to  that  of  the  nave. 

The  first  Gothic  rose  window  of  big  dimensions  adorns 
the  west  facade  of  Mantes  collegiate.  It  is  what  they  call 
plate  tracery — that  is,  the  pattern  is  formed  of  voids,  the 
window  being  a  group  of  variously  shaped  openings,  and  not, 
as  in  bar  tracery,  a  single  opening  with  the  pattern  made 
by  solids,  or  stone  mullions.  The  western  rose  at  Laon 
stands  halfway  between  plate  and  bar  tracery.  Mantes' 
rose  was  the  prototype  for  that  at  Chartres. 

Like  most  of  the  larger  XH-century  churches,  the  sex- 
partite  system  of  vaulting  was  used.  Mantes  also  followed 
Noyon  and  Senlis  in  having  alternating  piers  and,  like  Noyon, 
it  showed  the  Rhenish  trait  of  a  western  transept,  formed 
by  the  two  lower  stories  of  the  towers  and  the  westernmost 
bay  of  the  middle  vessel.  Two  of  the  portals  are  of  the 
XII  century,  but  the  largest  —  the  one  under  the  south 
tower — was  made  by  Raymond  du  Temple.  And  probably 
that  same  XlV-century  architect  of  Charles  V  added  the 
gracious  chapel  of  Navarre  which  is  among  the  best  works 
of  Rayonnant  Gothic.  In  it  are  four  charming  statuettes 
of  the  donors,  the  princesses  of  Navarre,  portrait  work  show- 
ing personal  mannerisms.  When  the  sister  of  the  art-loving 
Valois  king,  Charles  V,  married  Charles  the  Wicked  (a  scion  of 
Capetian  stock  who  was  count  in  Evreux  and  king  in  Navarre) 
she  brought  the  town  of  Mantes  in  her  dowry,  and  it  was 
probably  her  daughters  who  are  sculptured  in  this  chapel  of 
Navarre — their  gift  to  Mantes  collegiate. 

On  the  site  of  the  present  church  once  stood  a  Roman- 
esque edifice  built  by  funds  donated  by  William  the  Con- 
queror on  his  deathbed,  to  atone  for  his  having  set  fire  to  the 

164 


GOTHIC   ARCHITECTURE   IN  PARIS 

ancient  church  (1087).  Angered  by  a  coarse  joke  of  the 
French  king's,  he  had  sworn  his  usual  oath,  "by  the  splendor 
and  resurrection  of  God,"  that  he  would  light  a  hundred 
thousand  candles  when  he  went  to  his  churching  Mass;  so 
he  marched  against  his  tormentor  and  set  fire  to  Mantes 
that  lay  in  his  path.  For,  as  Mr.  Henry  Adams  has  pic- 
turesquely expressed  it,  "Mantes  barred  the  path  of  Norman 
conquest  in  arms,  as  in  architecture."  As  the  corpulent 
Conqueror  rode  around  the  place,  his  horse  stumbled,  and 
from  the  injury  then  received  he  died  in  Rouen  in  a  few  weeks. 
That  burning  of  Mantes  by  the  Duke  of  Normandy  and  King 
of  England  has  been  called  the  prelude  to  the  Hundred  Years' 
War  between  France  and  England,  whose  actual  span  was  from 
1337  to  1453.  And  in  a  way  Waterloo  was  its  epilogue.  The 
shoulder-to-shoulder  fight  of  the  ancient  rivals,  from  1914  to 
1918,  let  us  hope,  has  put  the  seal  on  their  pact  of  peace. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  MEAUX * 

Ah,  see  the  fair  chivalry  come,  the  companions  of  Christ! 

White  Horsemen  who  ride  on  white  horses,  the  Knights  of  God! 
They,  for  their  Lord  and  their  Lover  have  sacrificed 

All,  save  the  sweetness  of  treading  where  He  first  trod! 
These  through  the  darkness  of  death,  the  dominion  of  night, 

Swept,  and  they  wake  in  white  places  at  morningtide.  .  .  . 
Now,  whithersoever  He  goeth,  with  Him  they  go; 

White  Horsemen  who  ride  on  white  horses,  oh,  fair  to  see! 
They  ride,  where  the  Rivers  of  Paradise  flash  and  flow, 

White  Horsemen,  with  Christ  their  Captain:    forever  He! 

— LIONEL  JOHNSON,  Te  Martyrum  Candidatus.* 

To  decipher  Meaux  Cathedral  has  been  a  student's  tour-de- 
force, so  early  and  unceasing  have  been  its  rebuildings.     With 

1  J.  Formige,  La  cathedrale  de  Meaux  (Pontoise,  1917);  Amedee  Boinet,  "La  cathe- 
drale  de  Meaux,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1912;   I.  Taylor,  La  cathedrale  de  Meaux 
(Paris,  Didot,  1858),  folio;   Emile  Lambin,  "La  cathedrale  de  Meaux,"  in  Revue  de 
Fart  chretien,   1900;    Henri  Stein,  La  cathedrale  de  Meaux  et  V architecte  Nicolas  de 
Chaumes  (Arcis-sur-Aube,  1890);    Du  Cairo,  Histoire  de  Meaux  et  du  pays  meldois 
(Meaux,  1865);    Monseigneur  Allon,  Cronique  des  eveques  de  Meaux;   also  his  Notice 
hist,  et  descript.  de  la  cathedrale  de  Meaux  (1871);    O.  Join-Lambert,  Le  diocese  de 
Meaux  (These,  ficole  des  chartes,  1894). 

2  Lionel  Johnson,  Poetical  Works  (New  York  and  London,  Macmillan  Company), 
p.  252. 

165 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Troyes  and  Seez,  it  was  the  only  Gothic  cathedral  that  had  a 
flaw  in  its  structure.  Begun  with  the  choir,  in  the  last  decades 
of  the  XII  century,  it  still  retained  the  Romanesque  idea 
of  deep  galleries  over  the  side  aisles.  Whether  poor  founda- 
tions were  laid  or  whether  the  tribune  vaults  were  made 
too  cumbersome,  the  edifice  gave  signals  of  insecurity  from 
the  start. 

As  the  XIII  century  opened,  the  transept  and  that  part  of 
the  nave  near  it  were  building  with  the  tribunes  still,  although 
by  that  time  such  galleries  had  fallen  into  disuse.  Repeated 
restorations  delayed  the  works.  Cracks  continued  to  show 
until,  about  1270,  when  the  collapse  of  the  whole  church  was 
threatened,  a  complete  reconstruction  was  undertaken  by 
Bishop  Jean  de  Poincy. 

Already,  in  1220,  the  choir  had  been  redone  and  two  more 
chapels  added,  making  five  apsidioles  in  all.  In  1270  they 
demolished  throughout  the  church  the  tribunes  over  the  side 
aisles,  and  thus  the  aisles  became  twice  their  intended  height. 
In  the  first  three  bays  of  the  choir  were  retained  the  arches 
of  the  tribune,  so  that  now  certain  bays  of  the  choir  aisles 
open  on  the  central  vessel  by  pier  arcades  surmounted  by 
false-tribune  arches.  Striking  effect  is  made  in  the  nave  by 
some  giant  cylinder  piers  whose  height  is  double  what  was 
originally  planned  and  whose  capitals  are  gems  of  interpre- 
tative sculpture,  vine  leaf  and  fern.  Much  mechanical 
dexterity  was  shown  in  the  recutting  of  piers  and  the  elimina- 
tion of  the  tribunes,  but  even  now  a  few  of  the  shorter  columns 
are  to  be  found  embedded  in  the  newer  parts,  and  a  few  sections 
of  the  triforium  show  their  primitive  plan. 

By  the  time  Meaux  Cathedral  was  completed  it  was  prac- 
tically an  edifice  of  the  end  of  the  XIII  century.  Its  chief 
patroness  was  the  queen  of  Philippe-le-Bel  (St.  Louis'  grand- 
son), the  Jeanne  of  Champagne  who  brought  that  rich  province 
to  the  Crown,  as  well  as  the  kingdom  of  Navarre,  the  same 
princess  who  encouraged  Joinville  to  write  his  reminiscences. 
The  city  of  Meaux  was  in  her  dowry,  and  they  say  that  her 
portrait  was  carved  on  a  keystone  of  the  choir.  When  she 

166 


GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE  IN  PARIS 

died,  in  1305,  she  named  the  bishop  of  Meaux  as  her  executor 
and  donated  a  legacy  to  his  church. 

A  well-known  XlV-century  architect,  Nicolas  de  Chaumes, 
worked  on  the  west  fagade,  two  of  whose  portals  are  of  that 
period,  and  one  of  the  XV  century.  Unfortunately,  use  was 
made  of  a  soft  stone  which  time  has  sadly  eroded.  Flamboyant 
Gothic  sculpture,  with  foliage  in  gracious  disorder,  appears 
in  the  western  bays :  the  undulating  flora  of  the  XIV  century, 
and  the  nervous,  deeply  indented,  pointed  leaves  of  the  XV 
century  when  such  complicated  forms  as  the  curly  cabbage 
were  taken  as  models.  Wiser  were  the  earlier  sculptors  who 
had  interpreted  and  arranged  their  leaves  with  architectural 
fitness.  The  south  portal  of  Meaux's  transept  must  have 
had  in  mind  St.  Stephen's  door  of  the  cathedral  at  Paris.  At 
Meaux  the  sculptured  figures  show  certain  mannerisms,  such 
as  the  throwing  out  of  one  hip,  a  trait  soon  to  be  exaggerated. 
The  carvings  throughout  the  church  were  mutilated  by  the 
Huguenots  in  1562,  and  from  that  date  no  further  work  was 
done  on  the  edifice.  One  tower  of  the  fagade  remains  painfully 
stunted. 

The  church  of  Meaux  would  stand  well  in  the  front  rank  of 
Gothic  cathedrals  were  it  not  for  certain  flaws  of  proportion. 
Such  exceptionally  high  side  aisles  call  for  a  nave  twice  as  long, 
and  the  clearstory  appears  dwarfed  by  the  lofty  pier  arcades  of 
the  chevet.  Yet  though  made  piecemeal,  and  without  uniform- 
ity of  style  in  its  main  parts,  Meaux  possesses  a  unity  of  its  own, 
and  its  effect  as  a  whole  is  one  of  elegance  and  even  radiance. 

The  tomb  of  its  greatest  bishop  is  an  immense  slab  of  marble 
in  the  pavement  of  the  choir.  Bossuet  devoted  himself  to  his 
diocese  for  over  twenty  years  (1681—1704).  Frequently  he 
preached  in  the  cathedral  built  by  the  generosity  of  Jeanne  of 
Champagne,  the  founder  of  the  College  of  Navarre,  where  he 
had  studied  in  his  youth.  There  is  something  akin  in  Meaux 
Cathedral  to  the  high  soul  and  courtliness  of  Bossuet.  The 
two  most  religious  and  national  epochs  in  French  history  were 
the  XIII  and  XVII  centuries. 

Few  churches  in  France  present  a  better  setting  for  a  festival 

167 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

of  solemn  joy  than  the  cathedral  of  Meaux.  It  is  the  church 
for  Noel,  for  the  white  radiance  of  First  Communion  gath- 
erings, for  the  Te  Deum  of  victory.  Fitting  is  it  that  the 
victory  of  the  Marne  should  here  have  become  a  personal 
heritage.  At  the  very  gates  of  Meaux  came  the  turning  of  the 
tide  on  September  5,  1914,  when  the  thunderous  advance  on 
Paris  was  suddenly  arrested.  The  password  for  that  day  of 
miracle  was  "Jeanne  d'Arc."  Near  by,  on  the  Ourcq,  Jeanne's 
troubadour,  Peguy,1  fell  on  that  same  September  5th,  he  who 
had  chanted  prophetically: 

Heureux  ceux  qui  sont  mort  pour  une  juste  guerre  .  .  . 
Heureux  les  epis  murs  et  les  bles  moissonnes, 
Heureux  ceux  qui  sont  mort  dans  les  grandes  batattles, 
Couches  dessus  le  sol  a  la  face  de  Dieu. 

Close  to  Meaux  the  battle  raged  outside,  and  the  wounded, 
in  bewildering  numbers,  were  carried  into  the  desolated  town 
which  lacked  a  civic  head.  The  bishop  of  Meaux,  Mon- 
seigneur  Marbeau,  stepped  forth  as  the  accepted  leader,  as 
in  the  time  of  those  earlier  invasions  when  the  bishops  of  Gaul 
saved  Latin  civilization. 

Again,  in  1918,  the  invader  drew  perilously  near,  and  a 
second  victory  of  the  Marne  swept  back  the  avalanche. 
From  the  fields  around  the  city  forever  will  an  invisible  white 
army  of  martyrs  swell  this  cathedral's  Te  Deum.  In  Meaux 
on  the  Marne,  God  will  always  be  the  omnipotent  Lord  God 
of  Battles,  the  Dominus  Deus  Sabaoth  of  the  great  hymn  of 
thanksgiving.2 


1  Peguy  pierced  to  the  very  soul  of  the  Maid  in  his  Mystere  de  la  charitS  de  Jeanne 
d'Arc.    Jeanne,  in  Domremy,  seeing  the  evil  round  her  caused  by  war,  says:  "Je 
pourrais  passer  ma  vie  entiere  a  la  maudire,  et  les  villes  n'en  seront  pas  moins  efforcees, 
et  les  homines  d'armes  n'en  feront  pas  moins  chevaucher  leurs  chevaux  dans  les  bles 
venerables  .  .  .  bles  sacres,  bles  qui  faites  le  pain  ,  .  .  sacres  bles  qui  devintes  le 
corps  de  Jesus-Christ." 

2  Another  who  fell  in  battle  in  that  same  summer  of  1914,  Ernest  Psichari,  divined 
this  pregnant  region:    "  Diocese  de  Meaux,  cryptes  de  Jouarre,  cloches  des  petites 
communes  .  .  .  1'harmonie  delicate,  la  grace  parfaite,  le  bon  gout  de  ces  paysages 
moderes.     Ici  la  race  est  d'accord  avec  le  paysage,  serieuse  comme  lui,  ardente  sans 
frivolite,  sans  elegances  inutiles.     Certains  soirs,  on  pense  a  Pascal,  si  francais,  quand 
il  ecrivait:   'Certitude  .  .  .  Pleurs  de  joie.'  " — L'Appel  des  Armes  (Paris,  G.  Oudin 
et  Cie,  1913). 

168 


The  Cathedral  of  Meaux,  Viewed  from  the  Nave's  Aisle 


CHAPTER  V 

Era  of  the  Great  Cathedrals,  Chartres,  Rheims,  Amiens 

/  stood  before  the  triple  northern  porch 
Where  dedicated  shapes  of  saints  and  kings, 
Stern  faces  bleared  with  immemorial  watch, 
Looked  down  benignly  grave,  and  seemed  to  say: 
"Ye  come  and  go  incessant,  we  remain 
Safe  in  the  hallowed  quiets  of  the  past. 
Be  reverent,  ye  who  flit  and  are  forgot 
Of  faith  so  nobly  realized  as  this." 

— JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL,  The  Cathedral. 


F  the  four  master  cathedrals  of  France,  that  of 
Paris  was  begun  first.  Thirty  years  later,  in 
1194,  the  cornerstone  of  Chartres  was  laid, 
that  of  Rheims  in  1211,  and  that  of  Amiens  in 
1220.  In  the  case  of  Chartres,  Rheims,  and 
Amiens,  rebuilding  was  undertaken  when  fire  had  destroyed 
their  Romanesque  cathedrals.  All  four  of  these  great  churches 
have  the  same  patroness,  Our  Lady,  "the  glorious  mother  of 
God,  our  advocate  against  our  enemy  of  hell" — thus  those 
generations  spoke  of  her  of  whom  Dante  chanted:  "Lady, 
thou  art  so  great,  and  hast  such  worth  that  if  there  be  who 
would  have  grace,  yet  betaketh  not  himself  to  thee,  his  longing 
seeketh  to  fly  without  wings."  x 

It  is  difficult  for  many  a  modern  mind  to  understand  the 
passion  of  spiritual  chivalry  felt  by  the  generations  that 
built  cathedrals  for  her  whom  they  called  their  sovereign 
lady,  but  unless  some  comprehension  of  that  mystic  ideal  is 
grasped  no  complete  sympathy  for  mediaeval  art  is  possible. 
Mr.  George  Santayana,  who  would  renew  our  sense  of  the 
moral  identity  of  all  the  ages,  may  see  in  the  mediaeval  devo- 
tion to  Our  Lady  a  development  of  Platonic  love,  which  he 

1  Paradiso,  xxxiii:  15-16. 

169 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

calls  the  transformation  of  the  love  of  beauty  into  the  worship 
of  an  ideal  beauty,  the  transformation  of  the  love  of  a  creature 
into  the  love  of  God.  All  love  is  to  lead  to  God.  All  true 
beauty  leads  to  the  idea  of  perfection,  said  Michael  Angelo, 
who  practiced  Platonism,  even  as  had  Dante,  who  was  of  the 
very  essence  of  the  great  scholastic  century  that  built  Chartres, 
Rheims,  and  Amiens. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  CHARTRES1 

Discipline  is  indispensable  to  art. — GEORGE  SANTAYANA.Z 

Chartres  was  Our  Lady's  shrine  in  a  peculiar  way,  her 
"special  chamber."  A  local  tradition,  so  old  that  it  reached 
back  to  the  dimmest  past,  told  of  a  prophecy  concerning  a 
virgin  mother,  pronounced  by  the  Druids,  a  hundred  years 
before  the  Christian  era  on  the  site  where  Chartres  now 
stands,  and  in  the  cathedral  first  built  on  the  revered  spot 
the  bishop  retained  a  pagan  well  which  from  time  immemorial 
had  been  honored  by  the  populace.  That  Puits  des  Saints- 
Forts  has  been  included  in  the  crypt  of  each  succeeding 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1900;  Rene  Merlet,  La  cathedrale  de  Chartres  (Collection, 
Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1909);  ibid.,  "Les  architectes  de  la  cathe- 
drale  de  Chartres  et  la  construction  de  la  chapelle  Saint  Piat  au  XIVe  siecle,"  in  Bul- 
letin Monumental,  1906,  vol.  70,  p.  218;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  Les  architectes  et  la  con- 
struction des  cathedrales  de  Chartres  (Paris,  1905);  ibid.,  Les  facades  successives  de  la 
cathedrale  de  Chartres  au  XI'  et  au  XI Ie  siecle  (Caen,  1902);  Abbe  Bulteau,  Mono- 
graphic de  la  cathedrale  de  Chartres  (1891),  3  vols.;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "Le  portail 
sud  de  la  cathedrale  de  Chartres,"  in  Revue  de  Vart  chretien,  1907,  p.  100;  F.  de  Mely, 
fitudes  iconographiques  sur  les  vitraux  du  XIIle  siecle  de  la  cathedrale  de  Chartres  (Lille, 
1888),  4to;  J.  K.  Huysmans,  La  Cathedrale  (Paris,  1898;  tr.  London,  Paul,  Trench 
&  Triibner);  Henry  Adams,  Mont  Saint-Michel  and  Chartres  (Boston,  Houghton 
Mifflin  Company,  1913);  De  Lasteyrie,  Etudes  sur  la  sculpture  franqaise  au  moyen 
age  (Paris,  1902);  Cherval,  Chartres,  sa  cathedrale,  ses  monuments  (Chartres,  1905); 
ibid.,  Les  ecoles  de  Chartres  au  moyen  age  (1895) ;  Lucien  Merlet,  tr.  Lettres  de  St.  Ives, 
eveque  de  Chartres  (Chartres,  Petrot-Garnier,  1885);  A.  J.  de  H.  Bushnell,  Storied 
Windows  (New  York,  Macmillan  Company,  1914);  Crosnier,  Iconographie  chretienne 
(Tours,  Mame,  1876);  Gabriel  Fleury,  Etudes  sur  les  portails  images  du  XII*  iiecle 
(Mamers,  Fleury  et  Dangin,  1904);  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France,  vol.  7,  p.  1,  "Etat 
des  lettres  en  France,  XIe  siecle";  p.  261,  "St.  Fulbert"  (Paris,  1746);  vol.  10,  p.  102, 
"St.  Ives"  (Paris,  1756);  vol.  13,  p.  82,  "Geofroi  de  Leves"  (Paris,  1814);  vol.  14, 
p.  89,  "Jean  de  Sarisbery";  p.  236,  "Pierre  de  Celle,  6v6que  de  Chartrea"  (Paris, 
1817). 

*  George  Santayana,  Interpretations  of  Poetry  and  Religion  (New  York,  Scribner's, 
1905). 

170 


ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

cathedral  of  Chartres.  Finally  some  priggish  XVII-century 
prelates  looked  with  disfavor  on  the  policy,  advocated  by 
the  apostle  of  the  gentiles,  to  make  use  of  the  ancient  super- 
stition for  the  spread  of  the  true  faith.  So  the  pagan  well 
was  filled  in,  and  trace  of  it  was  lost  till  M.  Rene  Merlet 
discovered  it  in  1900  and  had  it  excavated. 

That  Chartres  was  a  meeting  place  of  the  Druids,  we  know 
from  Caesar,  and  the  XIH-century  sons  of  the  Gauls,  as  if  in 
souvenir,  carved  the  druidical  oak  leaf  freely  upon  the  present 
cathedral.  Is  it  fanciful  to  feel  that  in  the  grave  forest  stillness 
of  Chartres'  interior  lingers  much  of  the  theocratic  nostalgia 
that  forever  haunts  the  Celt?  In  druidic  times  priest,  teacher, 
and  lawmaker  were  honored  above  brute  force  of  arms.  The 
present  crypt  of  Chartres  includes  part  of  the  Gallo-Roman 
walls.  The  V-century  Merovingian  cathedral  abutted  on 
the  city  ramparts.  Then  came  wars  which  in  part  demolished 
the  town  walls,  so  that  the  reconstructed  church  was  able 
to  extend  itself  beyond  the  ramparts.  It  was  doubtless  after 
the  Norman  inroads  that  was  built,  in  the  IX  century,  the 
chapel  of  St.  Lupus  which  forms  the  core  of  the  present 
crypt.  The  Carolingian  cathedral  of  Chartres  was  destroyed 
by  a  terrible  fire  in  1020. 

Now,  in  1020,  the  see  of  Chartres  was  occupied  by  one 
of  the  notable  bishops  of  French  history,  Fulbert  (1007-29), 
revered  of  the  people,  a  scholar  enamored  of  the  life  of  study, 
though  the  events  of  that  agitated  age  forced  him  to  play 
an  active  part  in  the  national  life.  Like  Abbot  Suger,  he  was 
of  lowly  extraction.  He  had  studied  in  the  cathedral  school  of 
Rheims,  made  notable  by  Archbishop  Gerbert,  who  later 
became  Sylvester  II,  the  pope  of  the  year  1000.  Fulbert,  too, 
like  his  master,  was  a  versatile  genius — doctor  in  medicine  as 
well  as  theologian,  and  one  of  the  first  to  take  up  the  new 
musical  system  of  the  Benedictine  Guy  d'Arezzo.  He  made 
the  cathedral  school  of  Chartres  a  center  of  learning,  and 
men  who  were  to  be  the  leaders  of  the  age  were  his  pupils. 
Like  Socrates,  he  taught  his  disciples  as  they  paced  up  and 
down  the  cathedral  precincts.  In  his  exhortations  there  was 

171 


an  appealing  tenderness  that  had  a  singular  power  in  moving 
men's  hearts,  and  letters  from  his  pupils  still  exist,  complain- 
ing of  the  exile  they  felt  when  separated  from  him.1 

To  rebuild  his  cathedral,  Bishop  Fulbert  gave  up  his  own 
revenues.  Gifts  poured  in  from  the  kings  of  England  and 
Denmark,  from  the  bishop's  schoolmate  of  Rheims,  the  good 
and  cultivated  King  Robert  of  France,  from  the  Duke  of 
Aquitaine,  who  donated  the  treasure  accumulated  in  St. 
Hilary's  abbatial  at  Poitiers.  The  work  was  pushed  forward 
with  such  energy  that  after  four  years  Bishop  Fulbert  was 
able  to  write  that,  by  winter,  his  lower  church  would  be 
vaulted. 

The  present  magnificent  crypt  under  Chartres  Cathedral 
is  the  very  one  built  by  St.  Fulbert.  It  is  the  most  extensive 
crypt  in  France.  Its  soundly  constructed  groin  vaults  stood 
firm  when,  two  hundred  years  later,  the  upper  church  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  In  times  of  public  calamity  the  people 
have  fled  to  Fulbert's  subterranean  passages,  and  the  devotion 
of  generations  has  hallowed  his  shrine.  If  you  would  know 
the  soul  of  this  mystic  cathedral,  gather  at  dawn  with  the 
silent  worshipers  who  choose  that  hour  to  kneel  daily  in  the 
secluded  intimacy  of  Notre-Dame-sous-Terre.  The  true  hour 
for  Chartres  is  not  at  noontime,  when  the  tourists  flock  to  the 
empty  church,  but  in  the  morning  with  the  dawn.2 

Fulbert's  Romanesque  cathedral  was  finished  in  the  same 
XI  century  by  St.  Ives  of  Chartres,  another  born  leader  of 

1  Bishop  Fulbert  was  buried  in  1029  in  the  church  of  St.  Pierre-en- Vallee.  St. 
Pierre's  choir  is  Romanesque  and  early  Gothic;  its  sanctury  is  a  gem  of  XlV-century 
Rayonnant;  its  nave  is  in  larger  part  of  the  XIII  century,  but  later  than  the  cathedral 
of  Chartres;  its  west  tower  is  of  the  XI  century.  At  present  it  possesses  a  treasure 
of  enamel  work,  the  plaques  of  the  apostles,  by  Leonard  Limosin,  which  Francis  I 
had  made  in  1545,  and  which  Henry  II  gave  to  Diana  de  Poitiers  for  the  chateau  of 
Anet.  There  is  much  grisaille  glass  in  St.  Pierre;  each  window  of  the  nave  is  divided 
perpendicularly  into  three  panels — a  colored  one  in  the  center  and  grisailles  on  either 
side.  In  the  choir  is  some  XH-century  glass;  the  brilliant  apse  windows  are  XIV 
century,  as  are  a  few  in  the  nave.  P.  Lavedan,  Leonard  Limosin  et  les  emailleurs 
franqais  (Collection,  Les  grands  artistes),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  AUeaume  et  Duplessis, 
Les  douze  apotres;  emaux  de  Leonard  Limosin  (Paris,  1865). 

"  Chartres  est  sage  avec  une  passion  intense.  .  .  .  Palais  de  la  paix  et  du  silence! 
.  .  .  C'est  du  paix  heroique  qu'il  s'agit  ici." — RODIN,  Les  Cathedrales  de  France  (Paris, 
Colin,  1914). 

172 


ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

the  nation,  who  righted  many  abuses.  He  dared  stand  up 
against  Philip  I  himself,  because  of  the  king's  adulterous 
marriage  with  the  beautiful  Bertrada  de  Montfort,  stolen 
from  the  Count  of  Anjou.  The  bishop  wrote  thus  to  the 
king,  refusing  to  attend  his  wedding,  "out  of  respect  for 
my  own  conscience,  which  I  wish  to  keep  pure  before  God, 
and  because  I  would  retain  the  good  repute  by  which  a  priest 
of  Christ  should  honor  himself  before  the  faithful.  I  would 
rather  be  flung  into  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  with  a  millstone 
round  my  neck,  than  be  a  stumbling  block  to  the  weak.  Nor 
do  I  fail  in  the  fidelity  I  owe  you,  in  speaking  thus  to  you, 
but  rather  I  give  you  proof  of  it,  for  I  believe  that  you  are 
risking  your  immortal  soul  and  are  putting  your  crown  in 
jeopardy."  The  king's  answer  was  to  throw  him  into  prison 
and  to  pillage  his  church. 

Bishop  Ives,  in  1095,  attended  the  preaching  of  the  First 
Crusade  at  Clermont,  after  which  he  accompanied  Urban 
II  to  the  Council  of  Tours.  Scarcely  a  big  event  of  his  day 
or  a  leading  personage  that  he  was  unassociated  with,  and 
the  three  hundred  of  his  letters  which  are  extant  form  a 
valuable  contribution  to  history.  Twice  was  the  exiled 
St.  Anselm  of  Canterbury  his  guest,  and  in  1107  Paschal  II 
— the  pope  who  built  the  upper  church  of  S.  Clemente  at 
Rome — stopped  with  him  in  Chartres.  Bishop  Ives  had 
been  a  pupil  at  Bee,  of  the  celebrated  Lanfranc,  so  he  was 
fully  competent  to  keep  up  the  prestige  of  his  cathedral 
school. 

The  Romanesque  basilica,  begun  by  Fulbert  and  finished 
by  Bishop  Ives,  lasted  for  over  two  hundred  years.  The 
present  northwest  tower  was  started  probably  in  1134,  when 
the  nave's  western  bays  had  been  damaged  by  fire.  Fol- 
lowing a  pre-Romanesque  tradition,  the  tower  was  placed 
a  little  distance  before  the  church,  apart  from  it,  and  so  it 
remained  for  some  ten  years.  Then,  one  day  in  June,  1144, 
the  eloquent  Bishop  Geoffrey  de  Leves,  successor  of  St.  Ives, 
was  the  guest  of  the  abbot  of  St.  Denis  during  the  dedica- 
tion of  Suger's  abbatial,  and  what  he  there  saw  of  the  new 

173 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

system  of  building  made  him  determined  to  reconstruct 
his  own  church  of  Chartres.  Being  an  excellent  adminis- 
trator, he  was  able  to  start  the  new  works  immediately. 

Within  a  year  was  begun  the  southwest  tower  of  Chartres 
(1145),  which  many  hold  to  be  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world. 
While  it  was  building,  the  side  aisles  of  Fulbert's  basilica 
were  lengthened  to  meet  both  western  towers.  That  the 
one  to  the  south  never  was  intended  to  stand  isolated  is  shown 
by  the  absence  of  windows  on  the  two  sides  where  it  joins 
the  church,  whereas  the  tower  to  the  north  had  windows  on 
all  four  sides.  While  these  works  were  in  progress  St.  Ber- 
nard came  to  Chartres  to  preach  the  Second  Crusade.  He 
and  Bishop  Geoffrey  had  recently  traveled  together  through 
Aquitaine,  combating  the  Cartharist  heresy. 

It  was  Geoffrey  de  Leves  who  accompanied  the  future 
Louis  VII  to  Bordeaux  for  his  marriage  with  Alienor  of 
Aquitaine,  and  when  the  death  of  the  king  suddenly  called 
Louis  away,  he  left  his  bride  in  the  care  of  the  bishop  of 
Chartres.  Geoffrey  was  long  the  sincere  defender  of  Abelard, 
though  finally  he  disapproved  of  what  was  overhardy  in  his 
doctrine;  with  Peter  of  Cluny  he  held  that  the  errors  of  the 
brilliant  schoolman  were  of  the  head  rather  than  the  heart. 

Two  often-quoted  ancient  records  described  the  surge  of 
religious  fervor  which  raised  the  western  end  of  Chartres 
Cathedral.  In  1145  the  archbishop  of  Rouen  wrote  to  the 
bishop  of  Amiens  to  relate  how  the  people  of  his  diocese, 
knights  and  ladies,  townspeople  and  peasants,  went  in  a 
spirit  of  penitence  to  Chartres,  there  to  help  in  the  new  work 
of  Notre  Dame.  No  one  could  join  the  pilgrimage  who  had 
not  confessed,  and  renounced  all  enmities  and  revenges. 
As  the  quarries  were  some  miles  from  the  city,  it  was  a  heavy 
task  to  drag  in  the  big  stones.  In  that  same  1145  Abbot 
Haimon  of  St.  Pierre-sur-Dives  in  Normandy,  wrote  to  some 
monks  in  England  to  picture  the  scenes  at  Chartres:  "Who- 
ever heard  tell  in  times  past  of  powerful  princes  brought  up 
in  honors  and  wealth,  of  noble  men  and  women  bending  their 
proud  necks  to  the  harness  of  carts,  and  like  beasts  of  burden 

174 


ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

dragging  stones,  cement,  wood,  to  build  the  abode  of  Christ? 
And  while  men  of  all  ranks  drag  these  heavy  loads — so  great 
the  weight  that  sometimes  a  thousand  are  attached  to  one 
wagon — they  march  in  such  silence  that  not  a  murmur  is 
heard.  When  they  halt  by  the  roadside,  only  the  confessing 
of  sins,  and  prayer,  humbly  suppliant,  ascend  to  God.  If 
anyone  is  so  hardened  as  to  refuse  to  pardon  his  enemies, 
he  is  detached  from  the  cart  and  refused  companionship  in 
that  holy  company.  When  they  have  reached  the  church 
they  arrange  the  wagons  about  it  like  a  spiritual  camp,  and 
during  the  whole  night  they  celebrate  the  watch  by  hymns 
and  canticles." 

It  was  not  long  after  this  wave  of  enthusiasm  that  the 
Portal  Royal  was  begun,  probably  about  1155,  though  some 
have  placed  those  three  western  doors  earlier  and  some  later. 
As  they  resembled  the  doors  of  St.  Denis  (now  destroyed), 
they  were  made,  doubtlessly,  within  ten  or  fifteen  years  of 
Suger's  work.  By  1175  cracks  appeared  in  the  new  west 
foundations,  and  the  three  doors  were  moved  forward,  stone 
by  stone,  and  placed  on  a  line  with  the  towers.  In  their  first 
position,  set  back  between  the  advancing  towers,  they  had 
shown  to  better  advantage,  but  it  is  to  the  advance  of  Chartres' 
western  fagade  that  we  owe  the  preservation  of  its  priceless 
glass  and  sculpture. 

At  the  time  of  these  changes  the  bishop  of  Chartres  was 
John  of  Salisbury  (1176-80),  perhaps  the  most  learned  man 
of  his  century,  and  certainly  one  of  the  wisest,  sincerest,  and 
most  likable  men  who  ever  lived.  In  his  works  this  humanist 
advocated  a  proper  use  of  dialectics,  as  opposed  to  the  sterile 
subtlety  then  increasing  among  scholars.  His  stand  on  the 
problem  which  agitated  the  thinkers  then — how  our  ideas 
correspond  to  things  existing  outside  our  intellect — was  one 
of  moderate  realism.  Abelard  had  led  up  to  such  an  outlook, 
and  the  scholastics  of  the  XIII  century,  notably  Aquinas, 
also  classed  themselves  as  moderate  realists.  John  of  Salis- 
bury possessed  what  the  French  call  esprit,  and  he  poked 
some  fun  at  the  hair-splitting  in  the  schools.  Hebrew  and 
12  175 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Greek  he  knew,  and  his  Latin  was  of  good  literary  quality, 
which  was  rather  an  exception  among  scholastic  writers. 

When  Thomas  Becket  was  raised  to  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury, his  friend,  John  of  Salisbury,  became  his  chief  adviser, 
and  though  the  latter  held  principles  equally  firm,  he  en- 
deavored to  curb  the  primate's  excess  of  zeal.  Through 
the  years  of  Becket's  exile,  John  lived  in  France,  returned 
with  his  archbishop  to  England,  and  witnessed  his  martyrdom 
in  Canterbury  Cathedral.  At  Sens  he,  too,  must  have  watched 
with  interest  that  cathedral  building,  being  himself  an  artist 
and  modeler  in  clay.  Sens'  archbishop,  Guillaume  de  Cham- 
pagne, admired  the  balanced  character  and  solid  scholarship 
of  the  Englishman,  and  after  the  Canterbury  tragedy  pro- 
posed him  for  the  see  of  Chartres.  No  one  could  have  appre- 
ciated better  than  John  of  Salisbury  the  strange  charm  and 
beauty  of  the  column  statues  which  one  by  one  were  moved 
to  a  new  position  at  his  cathedral's  west  doors  while  he  gov- 
erned this  see. 

And  no  one  was  more  fitted  to  comprehend  the  glory  of 
the  three  Xll-century  windows,  also  dismounted  and  reset 
in  those  years,  than  John  of  Salisbury's  successor  at  Chartres, 
his  intimate  of  many  years  past,  Pierre  de  Celle,  who,  while 
abbot  of  St.  Remi  at  Rheims,  had  adorned  the  lovely  Primary 
Gothic  choir  he  built  there  with  admirable  colored  lights. 
The  south  tower  was  crowned  with  its  mighty  spire  in  his 
day,  and  he  paved  the  streets  of  Chartres  and  raised  the  town 
walls.  Both  these  best  types  of  scholastic  authors  were 
interested  in  maintaining  the  high  repute  of  their  cathedral 
school.  As  Pierre  de  Celle  died  in  1183,  he  was  spared  the 
sight  of  his  cathedral's  destruction. 

On  the  night  of  June  10,  1194,  a  terrible  conflagration 
wiped  out  Fulbert's  Romanesque  basilica.  To  its  cavernous 
crypt  the  clerks  bore  the  treasured  relics,  and  after  three 
days  emerged,  when  the  fire  was  spent.  Only  the  crypt 
and  the  more  recent  west  fagade,  with  its  two  towers,  es- 
caped destruction;  the  north  tower  at  the  time  still  lacked 
its  upper  stories. 

176 


ERA  OF  THE   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

On  the  smoking  ruins  the  pope's  legate  made  an  appeal 
to  the  people's  generosity,  and  once  again  Chartres  pre- 
sented the  devotional  scenes  of  1145.  Bishop  and  canons 
gave  up  three  years  of  their  revenue,  and  pious  confraternities 
dragged  in  the  big  stones.  Those  passionate  rivals,  Richard 
Coeur-de-Lion  and  Philippe-Auguste,  were  donors.  Thus 
every  part  of  Chartres  Cathedral  has  been  raised  by  the 
hands  and  hearts  of  faith,  and  surely  the  personality  which 
builders  impart  to  their  work  breathes  here  in  a  piety  of  the 
soul  that  not  all  the  science  of  later  times  has  ever  been  able 
to  simulate.  Non  est  hie  aliud  nisi  Domus  Dei  et  porta  coeli. 

The  new  cathedral  went  forward  apace;  early  in  the  XIII 
century  the  big  west  rose  was  added  to  the  much-transformed 
fagade.  By  1224  the  upper  vaulting  was  entirely  closed  in. 
The  formal  dedication  was  postponed  till  1260,  to  allow  for 
the  completion  of  the  two  elaborate  porches  before  the  tran- 
sept's doors.  To  that  delayed  consecration  came  St.  Louis 
and  his  court. 

The  name  of  the  architect  of  Chartres  is  unknown,  but  its 
unity  of  plan  is  proof  that  it  emanated  from  the  brain  of 
one  man.  The  choir  had  double  aisles,  the  nave  a  single 
one.  It  is  believed  that  to  the  absence  of  side  chapels  in 
the  nave  is  due  the  exceptionally  good  acoustic  properties 
of  this  church  in  which  the  preacher's  voice  carries  to  every 
part.  Unknown,  too,  is  the  architect  of  the  tower  built  in 
the  dawn  of  Gothic  art,  two  generations  before  the  present 
cathedral.  The  veriest  amateur  as  he  gazes  at  it  is  con- 
scious that  he  has  before  him  one  of  the  supreme  things  of 
France. 

The  more  closely  the  docker  vieux  is  analyzed,  the  more  it 
becomes  a  touchstone  by  which  will  be  judged  other  towers. 
A  miracle  of  just  gradation,  it  sprang  in  one  jet  from  the 
brain  of  a  man  of  genius.  With  a  pleasurable  sense  of  harmony 
the  eye  travels  from  the  base  to  the  tip  of  the  spire.  Pro- 
portion, not  ornament,  is  the  secret  of  its  transcendent  in- 
fluence. The  width  is  right — and  so  many  towers  fail  there — 
the  division  of  the  stories  is  right,  and  radiantly  right  is  that 

177 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

crucial  point,  the  transition  from  the  vertical  square  shaft 
to  the  inclined  octagonal  spire,  accomplished  here  by  means 
of  dormers  and  turrets.  An  innovator  was  the  architect  of 
Chartres'  belfry  when  he  placed  open  windows  in  the  gables. 
To  obviate  any  monotonous  optical  effect,  he  made  a  ridge 


The  Cathedral  of  Chartres  (1194-1240).     The  Southern  Aspect 

down  each  inclined  plane  of  the  spire,  which  spire  is  a  massive 
pyramid  forming  almost  half  of  the  tower's  height.  Its  bare 
nobility  surpasses  the  richer  open  stonework  of  the  spire  to 
the  north. 

It  is  confusing  that  the  north  tower  at  Chartres  facade 
should  be  called  the  docker  neuf  because  of  its  Flamboyant 
Gothic  upper  stories,  for  its  lower  Romanesque  parts  were 
built  before  the  docker  vieux.  When  towers  were  rising  in 
every  part  of  France  as  the  XVI  century  opened,  the  chapter 
of  Chartres  Cathedral  invited  a  local  architect,  Jean  de  Texier, 

178 


ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

called  Jean  de  Beauce,1  to  complete  their  truncated  northern 
tower,  whose  temporary  top  had  just  been  consumed  by  fire. 
Jean  de  Beauce  saw  that  the  XHI-century  rose  window  had 
crowded  the  south  belfry.  While  the  rose  was  making,  a 
new  story  had  been  added  to  the  north  tower.  To  that 
tower  he  decided  to  add  still  another  story  before  he  topped 
it  with  an  elaborate  lacework  spire.  In  consequence  the 
docker  neuf  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  mate.  Nor  does  it 
carry  the  eye  smoothly  from  soil  to  tip;  its  renewals  are 
abrupt.  However,  if  it  lacks  subtlety,  its  crown  is  none  the 
less  a  strikingly  effective  monument  of  the  final  phase  of 
Gothic  architecture.  The  spire  is  adjusted  to  the  shaft  by 
means  of  little  flying  buttresses  which  spring  from  the  angle 
and  face  turrets,  and  help  to  unify  the  design. 

Some  human  vanity  the  north  tower  of  Chartres  displays, 
but  no  arrogant  pride,  no  Renaissance  pretentiousness.  And 
in  the  inscription  commemorating  its  renewal  still  breathes 
the  reverential,  loving,  personal  note  of  the  Middle  Ages: 

"I  was  once  built  of  lead,  till  after  the  fire  on  the  feast  of 
St.  Anne,  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  1506,  Messires  the 
Chapter  ordered  me  rebuilt  in  stone.  In  my  necessity  good 
people  helped  me.  May  God  be  gracious  to  them." 

1"I  am  Beauceron,  Chartres  is  my  cathedral,"  said  Charles  Peguy,  who  walked 
in  pilgrimage  a  hundred  miles  to  pray  in  the  cathedral  when  his  little  son  lay  dying 
with  diphtheria.  No  one  has  celebrated  it  better  than  that  XX-centurj  maker  of 
mystery  plays,  true  artisan-artist  of  the  moyen  age: 

"Voici  le  lourd  pilier  et  la  montante  voute; 
Et  1'oubli  pour  hier,  et  1'oubli  pour  demain; 
Et  1'inutilite  de  tout  calcul  humain; 
Et  plus  que  le  peche,  la  sagesse  en  deroute. 

"  Voici  le  lieu  du  monde  ou  tout  devient  facile, 
Le  regret,  le  depart,  meme  1'evenement, 
Et  1'adieu  temporaire  et  le  detournement, 
Le  seul  coin  de  la  terre  ou  tout  devient  docile.  .  .  . 

"  Voici  le  lieu  du  monde  ou  tout  rentre  et  se  tait, 
Et  le  silence  et  1'ombre  et  la  charnelle  absence, 
Et  le  commencement  d'eternelle  presence, 
Le  seul  reduit  ou  1'ame  est  tout  ce  qu'elle  etait." 

— "Prieres  dans  la  cathedrale  de  Chartres,"  CEuvres  de  Charles  Peguy,  vol.  6,  p.  383, 
ed.,  Nouvelle  Revue  frangaise,  1916-18. 

179 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Under  his  belfry  tower,  Jehan  de  Beauce  built  a  pretty 
pavilion  to  regulate  its  chimes.  Sculptor  as  well  as  architect, 
he  designed  the  sumptuous  screen  about  the  choir,  on  whose 
exterior  wall  is  portrayed  the  life  of  Our  Lord  in  groups  made 
during  seven  generations.  The  oldest  and  best  scenes  are 
those  in  the  south  aisle  nearest  the  transept. 

The  mystery  plays  gave  to  the  iconography  of  the  late  XV 
century  its  realistic  character.  In  these  sculpture  panels  at 
Chartres,  not  only  were  the  costumes  of  the  religious  theater 
copied,  but  the  stage  settings.  A  group  was  represented  in 
a  room,  whereas  in  earlier  work  the  sacred  personages  "stood 
with  a  sort  of  spiritualized  detachment,  clad  in  the  long 
tunic  of  no  country,  of  no  time,  the  very  vestment  itself 
for  the  life  eternal."1 

One  of  the  earlier  scenes  of  Chartres'  choir  screen  presents 
Our  Lady  seated  in  the  cosiest  of  interiors,  like  a  XVI-century 
housewife,  a  reticule  by  her  side  and  a  chaplet,  which  last 
touch  was  a  charming  anachronism.  She  sews  serenely  while 
poor  distracted  St.  Joseph  dreams.  A  complete  contrast  to 
this  human  Virgin  Mother  is  a  XIH-century  lancet  across  the 
aisle  from  it — the  much-venerated  Notre-Dame-de-la-belle- 
verriere,  a  mother  of  God,  the  austere  symbolic  Throne  of 
Solomon,  almost  uncanny  in  her  solemn  passiveness.  In 
some  of  the  later  groups  sculptured  on  the  outer  walls  of  the 
choir  screen  appears  the  icy  hand  of  the  Renaissance,  though 
the  setting  remained  Gothic  throughout. 

The  two  decorative  glories  of  Chartres  Cathedral  are  its 
sculptured  portals  and  its  wealth  of  stained  glass,  "an  assem- 
blage unique  in  Europe,  the  thought  of  the  Middle  Ages  made 
visible."  Though  over  ten  thousand  personages  are  repre- 
sented, decoration  is  kept  subordinate  to  structure  with  an 
instinct  for  discipline  inherent  in  the  best  Gothic  art. 

For  the  archaeologist,  the  three  western  doors  are  of  prime 
importance,  last  of  the  Romanesque,  first  of  the  Gothic  portals, 
call  them  whichever  you  wish.  To  speak  of  a  transition  is 

1  fimile  Male,  L'art  religieux  du  XIIIe  siecle  en  France  (Paris,  A.  Colin,  1908); 
ibid.,  L'art  rehyioux  de  la  fin  du  moyen  age  en  France  (Paris,  A.  Colin,  1910). 

180 


ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

to  be  metaphysical,  employing  words  for  what  has  no  exis- 
tence in  reality,  since  there  was  no  break  in  the  sequence  of 
sculpture  from  the  first  imaged  portals  of  French  Romanesque 
art,  at  Beaulieu,  Moissac,  Autun  and  Vezelay  to  those  at  Le 
Mans  and  Chartres,  and  to  that  masterpiece  of  Gothic  sculp- 
ture, the  portal  of  Our  Lady  under  the  northwest  tower  of 
Paris  Cathedral. 

For  the  making  of  his  three  western  doors  at  Chartres, 
Bishop  Geoffrey  de  Leves  must  have  obtained  workers  from 
his  friend,  Abbot  Suger  of  St.  Denis.  Archaic  enough  seem 
these  kings  and  queens  with  their  strange,  haunting  faces, 
their  slim,  parallel  feet,  with  their  slender  figures  more  archi- 
tectural than  sculptural  as  they  stand  against  the  pillars  to 
which  they  conform,  yet  none  the  less  they  show  freedom 
from  the  stereotyped  Byzantine  traditions.  The  attitudes 
are  less  rigid  than  in  previous  column  statues,  and  personality 
is  dawning  in  the  faces.  The  Madonna  is  own  sister  of  the 
Eastern  empress  of  St.  Anne's  door  at  Paris,  made  about 
fifteen  years  later  under  Bishop  Maurice  de  Sully. 

The  "celestial  portal"  of  Chartres  portrayed  the  life  of 
Christ  from  his  birth  to  his  ascension.  At  the  northern  doors 
of  the  transept  was  set  forth  the  Creation,  to  the  coming  of 
the  Messiah,  and  Our  Lady  was  especially  honored.  And 
the  southern  portal  commemorated  from  the  coming  of  the 
Lord  to  his  second  advent  at  the  Last  Judgment.  It  was  the 
custom  to  represent  this  last  scene  at  the  west  fagade,  where 
it  might  be  illumined  by  the  setting  sun  of  the  world's  final 
day,  the  dies  irce  long  dreaded.  But  since  the  west  portal  of 
Chartres  had  followed  a  Romanesque  tradition  by  carving 
in  its  place  of  honor  a  Christ  in  the  elliptical  aureole  of 
eternity,  accompanied  by  the  symbols  of  the  four  evangelists, the 
Last  Judgment  was  relegated  to  the  transept's  south  entrance. 

Between  the  two  lateral  portals  of  Chartres  there  is  little 
choice.  In  them  Gothic  sculpture  appears  in  full  bloom. 
Each  is  a  national  heritage.  In  the  first  plan  of  the  transept 
the  entrances  lacked  their  magnificent  porches  begun  as 
afterthoughts  (about  1240),  but  so  well  adjusted  to  the 

181 


doors  that  they  appear  to  be  of  the  same  date.  Among  the 
seven  hundred  statues  at  the  northern  entrance,  some  show 
that  they  were  portrait  studies,  but  it  is  mere  hypothesis  to 
give  names  to  them.  Not  a  statue  was  placed  haphazard. 
A  prearranged  dogmatic  scheme  was  consistently  followed, 
since  to  the  mediaeval  mind  art  was  before  all  else  a  teacher. 
Our  Lady  stands  at  the  central  door,  accompanied  by  ten 
big  figures  representing  Melchisedek,  Abraham,  Moses,  Samuel, 
and  David  on  her  right,  and  Isaac,  Jeremiah,  Simeon,  John 
the  Baptist,  and  St.  Peter  on  her  left.  They  are  the  patriachs 
who  prefigured  her  Son  and  the  prophets  who  foretold  Him, 
and  the  two  who  witnessed  His  coming,  one  as  foreteller,  the 
other  to  be  His  symbol  in  the  future.  Each  personified  a 
period  of  history:  "Fathers  of  the  people,  pillars  of  humanity, 
contemporaries  of  the  first  days  of  the  world,  they  seem  to 
belong  to  another  humanity  than  ours.  They  are  to  be 
counted  among  the  most  extraordinary  images  of  the  Middle 
Ages."  It  is  inevitable  that  M.  Male  be  quoted  on  all  points 
of  mediaeval  iconography. 

Usually  under  each  large  statue  was  carved  a  pedestal 
scene  having  some  connection  with  it.  Thus  beneath  the 
Queen  of  Sheba  is  a  negro;  beneath  Balaam,  his  ass.  At  the 
south  porch,  under  St.  Jerome,  translator  of  the  Bible,  is 
the  Synagogue  with  bandaged  eyes,  and  under  St.  Gregory 
the  Great  is  a  crouching  scribe,  who  cranes  his  neck  to  see 
the  saint,  for  the  legend  was  that  one  day  as  the  pope  dictated 
to  his  secretary,  a  long  pause  came,  and  the  scribe  peeped 
through  the  curtain  that  hung  between  them  and  saw  a 
dove  perched  on  the  saint's  shoulder,  symbolic  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  directing  him.  St.  George  and  St.  Theodore  garbed 
as  crusaders  are  the  only  youthful  images  at  the  south  porch, 
and  must  have  been  studied  from  some  of  St.  Louis'  knights. 

At  her  entranceways  Chartres  set  forth  the  calendar  of 
months  in  small  medallioixed  allegories,  and  here  and  at 
Amiens,  Paris,  and  Rheims  was  given  a  complete  system  of 
moral  philosophy  through  the  contrast  of  virtues  with  vices. 
On  the  north  facade  of  Chartres  is  carved  "Libertas"  under 


ERA  OF  THE   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

the  image  of  a  virtue.  Bishop  John  of  Salisbury  would  have 
approved  this:  "For  there  is  nothing  more  glorious  than 
freedom,"  he  wrote,  "save  virtue,  if  indeed  freedom  may  be 
rightly  severed  from  virtue,  for  all  who  know  anything  know 
that  true  freedom  has  no  other  source." 

In  structural  technique  the  fenestration  of  Chartres  was 
a  stride  forward,  and  both  the  cathedrals  of  Paris  and  Soissons 
learned  immediately  from  its  clearstory  arrangement — the  first 
attempt  to  fill  with  colored  glass  the  entire  space  between 
the  active  wall  shafts.  "In  certain  parts  of  the  cathedral  of 
Chartres,"  says  M.  Male,  "is  a  magnificent  amplitude,  a 
superabundance  of  power.  Each  of  the  nave's  windows  is 
surmounted  by  an  immense  rose  as  wide  as  the  bay,  a  con- 
ception as  proud  as  ever  an  architect  realized.  It  is  one 
of  those  flashes  of  genius  such  as  came  to  Michael  Angelo. 
Those  great  orbs  of  light,  those  wheels  of  fire  that  dart  spark- 
ling rays  are  one  of  the  beauties  of  the  cathedral."1 

Notre  Dame  has  preserved  over  two  hundred  of  the  ancient, 
imaged  windows.  The  oldest  and  the  best  are  three  large 
lancets  under  the  western  rose  which,  like  the  Royal  Portal 
beneath  them,  are  the  work  of  Suger's  craftsmen  who  came 
here  from  St.  Denis.  One  of  these  noted  windows  relates  the 
childhood  of  Christ,  another  His  Passion  and  Resurrection, 
and  the  third  is  a  tree  of  Jesse,  similar  to  one  in  St.  Denis.2 
The  iron  bars  supporting  the  sheet  of  glass  do  not  conform 
to  the  outline  of  the  medallions,  hence  it  is  somewhat  more 
difficult  to  decipher  the  scenes  than  in  XHI-century  work. 
None  the  less,  these,  the  oldest  windows  of  the  cathedral,  are  the 
peer  of  any  colored  glass  ever  made,  because  of  their  inherent 

1  fimile  Male,  UArt  allemand  et  I'art  frangais  du  moyen  age  (Paris,  A.  Colin,  1917). 

2  "Lovelier  color  the  hand  of  man  has  not  produced.     There  are  times  when  human 
art  seems  to  be  something  more  than  mortal;  when  it  rises  to  heights  infinitely  above 
the  ordinary  achievements  of  men.    French  glass  of  the  XII  century  is  such  an  art. 
It  is  impossible  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  these  translucent  mosaics  without  experi- 
encing a  depth  of  aesthetic  emotion  that  at  once  disarms  the  critical  faculty.     Such 
sensuous  beauty  of  tone,  such  richness  of  color,  has  been  equaled  by  no  painter  of  the 
Renaissance,  by  no  Byzantine  worker  in  mosaics.     Yet  it  is  not  only  for  their  absolute 
beauty,  but  also  for  their  perfectly  architectural  character  that  these  windows  claim 
unqualified  admiration." — ARTHUR  KINGSLEY  POUTER,  Medieval  Architecture   (New 
York  and  London,  1907),  vol.  2,  p.  108. 

183 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

genius  for  decorative  effect  and  their  conscientious  work- 
manship. Many  a  pen  has  tried — in  vain — to  describe  the 
marvelous  deep  blue  which  blends  together  the  other  colors — 
the  streaky  ruby,  the  emerald  green,  the  sea-green  white,  the 
brownish  purple  and  pink,  the  yellow  pot  metal. 

Even  after  the  opening  of  the  XIII  century  the  St.  Denis 
school  exerted  influence,  as  is  shown  by  the  Charlemagne- 
Roland  windows  in  Chartres'  ambulatory,  whose  outline  was 
taken  from  a  crusader  window  of  Suger's  abbey.  The  majority 
of  Chartres'  windows  belong  to  the  early  XIII  century,  when 
the  city  was  mistress  of  the  vitrine  art  and  supplied  the 
cathedrals  of  Bourges,  Rouen,  Sens,  Laon,  Auxerre,  Tours, 
Le  Mans,  Poitiers,  and  even  Canterbury.  In  the  nave's 
north  aisle,  the  St.  Eustace  window  (the  third)  is  held  to  be 
of  faultless  artistry.  The  large  lancets  which  light  the  aisles 
scintillate  as  with  precious  jewels.  Only  some  five  or  six 
have  floral  scrolls  filling  the  spaces  between  the  medallions 
and  the  deep  border  that  surrounds  each  window;  in  France 
a  geometric  pattern  for  such  interstices  was  more  frequent. 

At  the  base  of  each  window  is  what  is  called  its  signature — 
a  medallion  which  usually  represents  the  avocation  of  the 
donors,  whether  kings,  knights,  priests,  butchers,  shoemakers, 
furriers,  or  water  carriers.  Thus  below  the  Charlemagne- 
Roland  windows  tradesmen  display  rich  fur  mantles,  and  we 
know  that  the  pelletiers  were  the  donors.  Splendid  were  the 
gifts  of  the  old  artisan  guilds.  The  tanners  presented  an  apse- 
chapel  window  in  honor  of  St.  Thomas  Becket,  the  vintners 
one  that  related  the  story  of  Noe,  planter  of  vines.  An  over- 
powering sensation  it  must  have  been  for  those  mediaeval 
workmen  to  worship  beneath  the  vaults  they  themselves  had 
helped  to  build,  under  the  windows  they  had  contributed. 
Kings  and  knights  were  their  fellow  donors,  but  in  the  ca- 
thedrals of  France 'the  gifts  of  the  lowly  were  the  most  plenti- 
ful, a  Christian  quality  which  endured  till  the  XVI-century 
disunion. 

To  Chartres  St.  Louis  gave  a  window  in  honor  of  St.  Denis, 
patron  of  his  kingdom.  The  splendid  red  northern  rose, 

184 


ERA  OF  THE   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

"The  Rose  of  France,"  is  a  glorification  of  Our  Lady.  The 
donjons  of  Castile  adorn  it  in  honor  of  the  queen  regent. 
Directly  opposite  is  the  big  south  rose  presented  by  Blanche's 
enemy,  Pierre  Mauclerc,  who  tried  to  kidnap  Louis  IX  from 
his  mother,  but  who  was  to  die  fighting  the  infidels  under 
his  cousin  the  king,  as  did  Pierre  de  Courtenay,  another 
donor  of  a  window  at  Chartres.  Pierre  de  Dreux,  it  is  said, 
began  the  porch  before  the  southern  entrance  to  commem- 
orate his  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  Brittany,  a  grand- 
daughter of  Henry  II,  Plantagenet.  Like  every  door  of  this 
church  of  the  resplendent  entranceways,  it  is  a  mass  of 
sculpture.  Mauclerc  was  grandson  of  the  builder  of  St. 
Yved  at  Braine,  and  brother  of  Archbishop  Henri  de  Dreux, 
who  donated  windows  to  his  cathedral  at  Rheims.  Below 
the  Dreux  rose  at  Chartres,  four  of  the  Prophets  are  borne 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  four  Evangelists,  for  never  could 
those  generations,  enamored  of  symmetry,  resist  the  oppor- 
tunity to  weave  together  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

A  first  cousin  of  St.  Louis,  Ferdinand  III,  the  saint-con- 
queror of  Seville  and  Cordova,  donated  to  Chartres  a  window 
commemorating  the  patron  of  Spain.  Three  times  was 
St.  James  honored  here,  so  popular  was  the  Santiago  Com- 
postela  pilgrimage.  St.  Martin  and  St.  Nicolas  of  Bari 
are  also  commemorated,  the  former  some  seven  times,  for 
it  pleased  the  voyagers  to  noted  shrines  to  record  their  travels. 
By  pilgrimages  French  art  and  song  spread  in  Italy  and  Spain. 

Single  monumental  figures  of  prophet  or  saint  were  used 
in  the  clearstory  windows  instead  of  small  medallions,  which 
would  be  indistinct  when  viewed  at  such  a  height.  Although 
most  of  the  windows  in  the  cathedral  belong  to  the  XIII 
century,  the  XV  century  is  represented  in  the  Vendome 
chapel,  begun  in  1417  by  Louis  de  Bourbon,  an  ancestor  of 
Henry  IV.  Much  white  was  then  employed  for  the  better 
lighting  of  the  church,  and  the  straight  saddle-bars  of  Suger's 
time  were  again  made  use  of. 

No  attempt  was  made  for  perspective  in  the  earlier  glass, 

which  was  treated  like  a  translucent  mosaic;    relief  was  ob- 
is/; 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

tained  by  the  skilled  juxtaposition  of  tones.  The  old  workers 
had  taught  themselves  many  of  the  secrets  of  optics.  They 
knew  that  designs  on  a  background  of  blue — an  expansive 
color — should  be  larger  than  those  on  red — an  absorbent. 
They  knew  that  blue  was  a  sedative,  that  red  excited  the 
vision,  and  that  yellow  stopped  contours,  hence  it  was  to 
be  employed  in  borders. 

It  is  not  of  technique  that  one  thinks  when  standing  face 
to  face  with  the  windows  of  Chartres.  "Create  in  me  a  new 
heart,  O  God!"  one  murmurs  when  gazing  at  them.  When  at 
noon  the  sun  renders  the  colors  dazzling  and  bewildering,  the 
cathedral  seems  to  be  chanting  "Sanctus!  Sanctus!  Sanctus!" 
with  the  seraphim  proclaiming  that  the  whole  earth  is  full  of  the 
glory  of  the  Lord.  Live  coals  from  heaven's  high  altar  are 
the  windows  of  Chartres,  then,  cleansing  us  of  our  iniquities; 
and  seeing  with  our  eyes  we  see,  and  hearing  with  our  ears 
we  hear,  and  understanding  with  our  heart  we  comprehend 
the  vision  and  are  converted  and  healed. 

When  evening  blots  out  the  rest  of  the  church,  and  in 
luminous  obscurity  the  windows  hang  ethereally  in  space, 
they  are  psalms  of  intercession  and  penitence.  To  gaze  at 
such  windows  is  to  pray,  think  the  Levites  who  serve  in  this 
temple.  At  sunset  it  is  no  unusual  sight  to  see  a  young 
student  of  theology  seated  with  his  back  to  the  choir,  his 
forgotten  breviary  open  on  his  knee,  gazing  spellbound  at 
the  western  lancet's,  in  his  face  a  rapt  reverence,  indicating 
that  his  soul  is  in  prayer.  Each  evening  the  windows  of 
Abbot  Suger's  craftsmen  hymn  the  suave  and  lovely  Te 
Lucis  ante  which  ushers  in  night's  purity.  A  mediaeval 
cathedral  was  designed  for  the  Real  Presence,  and  without 
that  soul  of  all  ritual  it  stands  bereft.  Windows  such  as 
Chartres'  proclaim  the  miracle  of  the  Tabernacle  as  sym- 
bolically as  do  those  pillars  of  humanity  sculptured  by  the 
northern  doors,  Melchisedek  and  Peter,  types  of  the  Christ, 
each  holding  a  chalice,  or  as  do  the  transept's  outspread 
arms  that  recall  the  sacrifice  on  Calvary,  renewed  daily  in 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 

186 


ERA  OF  THE   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

That  Chartres  Cathedral  has  preserved  its  wealth  of  colored 
glass  is  proof  that  it  came  gently  through  the  ages;  more- 
over, it  was  constructed  solidly,  being  a  pioneer  in  the  use 
of  flying  buttresses  with  double  arches  united  by  an  arcature. 
Its  lower  walls  never  were  weakened  by  the  insertion  of  side 
chapels,  those  customary  XlV-century  additions.  That 
academic  period  built  at  Chartres  merely  the  semi-detached 
chapel  of  St.  Piat,  to  which  a  stair  ascends  from  the  ambu- 
latory. In  the  XVIII  century  some  well-intentioned  but 
misguided  canons  of  the  cathedral  lined  their  sanctuary 
with  neo-classic  marbles  and  stucco,  and  cluttered  the  plain 
wall  spaces  over  the  pier  arches  with  needless  ornament. 

In  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the  entire  demolition  of  the 
big  church  was  proposed,  but  happily  the  embarrassment 
of  how  to  dispose  of  such  a  mountain  of  stone  prevented  the 
vandalism.  Lead  was  stripped  from  the  roof  to  make  bullets 
and  pennies.  In  the  XIX  century  the  vast  timber  covering 
of  the  masonry  vaults,  called  la  foret,  was  burned,  but  the 
new  steep-pitched  roof  covered  with  lead  has  taken  on  a 
greenish  hue  that  blends  well  with  the  ancient  gray  stones. 

The  easy  hill  of  the  town  serves  as  pedestal  for  Chartres 
Cathedral.  Walk  through  the  little  city,  whose  air  of  cold 
propriety  is  very  typical  of  French  provincial  life,  pass  through 
the  Porte  Guillaume,  and  from  the  boulevard  beside  the 
stream  study  the  chief  edifice  of  this  Beauce  which  is  "the 
granary  of  France."  Observe  how  salient  are  the  transept 
arms.  Another  Romanesque  trait  is  the  placing  of  two 
towers — unfinished  here — between  choir  and  transept.  What 
Huysmans  called  the  maigreur  distinguee  of  youth  is  a  char- 
acteristic of  this  church.  In  Rheims,  the  next  begun  of  the 
big  Gothic  cathedrals,  is  no  trace  of  youth's  structural  plainness. 

As  you  sit  by  the  stream  watching  Notre  Dame  of  Chartres, 
its  Flamboyant  Gothic  tower,  perfect  of  its  kind,  seems  to 
ride  imperiously  over  the  nave;  none  the  less  it  will  be  the 
weather-beaten  southwest  tower  on  which  the  eye  will  linger 
longest.  Though  it  was  designed  to  accompany  a  church 
of  lesser  proportions,  though  it  labors  under  the  disadvantage 

187 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

of  being  overtopped  by  its  sister  beacon,  nothing  can  diminish 
its  unparalleled  unity.  Virile,  virginal,  aerial,  majestic, 
venerable  in  youth  and  youthful  in  its  venerable  age,  the 
docker  vieux  of  Chartres  is  one  of  the  supreme  things  of  the 
national  art,  "full  of  sweet  dreams  and  health  and  quiet 
breathing." 

THE   CATHEDRAL   OF    RHEIMS ' 

The  nation  that  made  a  compact  with  God  at  the  baptismal  font  of 
Rheims  will  be  converted  and  will  return  to  her  first  vocation.  Her  errors 
may  not  go  unpunished,  but  the  child  of  such  virtues,  of  so  many  sighs, 
of  so  many  tears,  will  not  perish.  A  day  will  come,  and  we  hope  it  may 
not  long  tarry,  when  France,  like  Saul  on  the  road  to  Damascus,  will  be 
enveloped  in  a  supernal  light  whence  will  proceed  a  voice,  asking:  "Why 
persecutest  thou  me?  Rise  up  and  wash  the  stains  that  disfigure  thee. 
Go,  first-born  of  the  Church,  predestined  nation,  race  of  election,  go  carry  as 
in  the  past  my  name  before  all  the  peoples  and  before  all  the  kings  of  the 
earth." — Address  of  POPE  Pius  X,  in  1912,  to  the  visiting  French  cardinals. 

The  other  two  of  the  four  great  cathedrals  have  no  setting 
equal  to  the  hill  pedestal  of  Chartres  or  to  the  river  island 
of  Notre  Dame  of  Paris.  Seldom  is  a  French  cathedral 
surrounded  by  the  pleasant  precincts  and  cloisters  preserved 
by  the  English  minsters,  and  Rheims  Cathedral  is  no  excep- 
tion in  its  abrupt  rise  from  flat  city  streets.  Its  druidical 
massiveness  can  easily  dispense  with  a  pedestal.  Rheims 
imposes  itself.  Even  in  the  night  its  prodigy  of  magnificence 
endures.  "The  huge  bas-relief  is  always  there  in  the  dark- 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1911,  Rheims,  p.  19,  the  cathedral;  p.  57,  St.  Remi,  L. 
Demaison;  Louis  Demaison,  Album  de  la  cathedrale  de  Rheims  (Paris,  1902),  2  vols., 
folio;  ibid.,  La  cathedrale  de  Rheims  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H. 
Laurens,  1910);  Abbe  Cerf,  Histoirc  et  description  de  Notre  Dame  de  Rheims  (Rheims, 
Dubois,  1861),  2  vols.,  8vo;  Alphonse  Gosset,  La  cathedrale  de  Rheims  (Paris  and 
Rheims,  1894),  folio;  ibid.,  Rheims  monumental  (Rheims,  1880),  12mo;  Anthyme 
Saint-Paul,  "La  cathedrale  de  Rheims,  au  XIII6  siecle,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1906, 
vol.  70,  p.  288;  E.  Moreau-Nelaton,  La  cathedrale  de  Rheims  (Paris,  1915);  Mon- 
seigneur  Landrieux,  La  cathedrale  de  Rheims  (Paris,  II.  Laurens,  1917) ;  Louis  Brehier, 
La  cathedrale  dc  Rheims  (Paris,  II.  Laurens,  1919);  Max  Sainsaulieu,  Rheims  avant 
la  guerre  (Paris,  H.  Laurens) ;  Vitry,  La  cathedrale  de  Rheims,  architecture  et  sculpture 
(Paris,  Longuet,  1913);  Ch.  Loriquet,  Les  tapisseries  de  Notre  Dame  de  Rheims;  H. 
Bazin,  Une  vieille  cite  de  France,  Rheims;  monuments  et  histoire  (Rheims,  Michaud, 
1900),  4to;  Louise  Pillion,  Les  sculpteurs  franqais  du  XIIIe  siecle  (Collection,  Les 
maitres  de  1'art),  (Paris);  fimile  Lambin,  Flore  des  grandes  cathedrales  (Paris,  1897); 
Vitry  et  Briere,  Documents  de  sculpture  franqaise  au  moyen  age  (Paris,  Longuet,  1900). 

188 


ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

ness,"  wrote  Rodin.  "I  cannot  distinguish  it,  but  I  feel  it. 
Its  beauty  persists.  It  triumphs  over  shadows  and  forces 
me  to  admire  its  powerful  black  harmony.  It  fills  my  window, 
it  almost  hides  the  sky.  How  explain  why,  even  when  envel- 
oped in  night,  this  cathedral  loses  nothing  of  its  beauty? 
Does  the  power  of  that  beauty  transcend  the  senses,  that 
the  eye  sees  what  it  sees  not?  ...  0  Nuit!  tu  es  plus  grande 
id  que  partout  ailleurs!"1 

The  "masters  of  the  living  stone"  who  built  Rheims  Cathe- 
dral are  known  to  us  to-day.  Their  names  were  commem- 
orated in  a  labyrinth  that  once  formed  part  of  the  nave's 
pavement,  a  drawing  of  which  has  been  unearthed  by  M. 
Louis  Demaison.  The  obliterated  figure  in  the  middle  of 
the  labyrinth  no  doubt  represented  the  bishop  who  laid  the 
foundation  stone.  He  was  Alberic  de  Humbert,  formerly 
archdeacon  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris  while  the  bishops  Maurice 
and  Eudes  de  Sully  were  raising  that  cathedral.  Builder 
and  crusader,  Alberic  was  a  true  product  of  his  age.  He 
marched  into  Languedoc,  in  1208,  to  chastise  the  Albigensian 
heretics;  he  attended  Innocent  Ill's  great  Council  of  the 
Lateran  in  1214,  and  when  he  ventured  again  to  the  East 
to  take  part  in  the  crusade  of  Jean  de  Brienne,  he  was  cap- 
tured by  Saracens  and  ransomed  by  the  Spanish  knights  of 
Calatrava.  He  died  on  the  return  journey,  1218. 

For  a  man  of  such  energy,  it  could  have  been  with  slight 
regret  that  he  witnessed,  in  May,  1210,  the  destruction  by 
fire  of  the  decrepit  church  he  had  inherited,  one  of  whose 
builders  had  been  Archbishop  Hincmar  in  the  IX  century. 
That  early  cathedral  of  Rheims  had  been  redressed  with  a 
fagade  by  Archbishop  Sampson,  a  friend  of  Abbot  Suger's, 
and  among  the  prelates  who  attended  the  memorable  dedi- 
cation of  St.  Denis.  His  Primary  Gothic  work,  wiped  out  in 
the  conflagration  of  1210,  was  a  loss  indeed  for  art. 

Bishop  Alberic  de  Humbert  set  vigorously  to  work,  and 
within  a  year  of  the  fire  had  laid  the  corner  stone  of  the  present 
cathedral  (1211).  By  1241  services  were  held  in  the  finished 

xAuguste  Rodin,  Lea  cathedrales  de  France  (Paris,  Colin,  1914). 

189 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

choir.  An  archbishop  of  the  Dreux  line  (1227-40)  gave 
windows  to  the  upper  apse,  and  although  he  and  the  towns- 
folk were  at  bitter  odds,  the  building  of  the  great  church 
by  both  prelate  and  people  went  on  unabated.  The  imperious 
Henri  de  Dreux,  like  Pierre  Mauclerc,  the  donor  of  Chartres' 
south  rose,  was  a  grandson  of  that  brother  of  King  Louis 
VII  who  built  the  beautiful  church  of  St.  Yved  at  Braine  on 
the  highway  between  Rheims  and  Soissons.  While  the  ca- 
thedral of  Rheims  was  building,  another  of  its  archbishops 
was  a  Joinville,  and  in  1270  its  sixtieth  ruler  died  on  St. 
Louis'  last  crusade. 

The  plan  of  the  cathedral  was  made  by  Jean  d'Orbais,  who 
had  watched  the  erection  of  the  abbatial  (1180)  in  his  native 
town  of  Orbais,1  a  church  modeled  on  the  choir  of  St.  Remi 
which  the  celebrated  schoolman  Pierre  de  Celle  had  built 
from  1170  to  1180.  Thus  Orbais  is  the  intermediary  between 
the  big  abbey  church  of  ..Rheims  and  Rheims  Cathedral. 

For  twenty  years  Jean  d'Orbais  directed  the  works  at 
Rheims,  so  stated  the  inscription  in  the  labyrinth;  and  on 
his  death  Jean  de  Loup  became  directing  architect  for  sixteen 
years  (1231-47),  during  which  the  transept  and  its  portals 
were  constructed.  The  third  architect,  Gaucher  de  Rheims 
(1250-59),  began  the  west  portals  and  worked  on  the 
nave.  In  his  precious  notebook,  Villard  de  Honnecourt 
sketched  a  bay  of  the  nave  before  1250.  The  fourth  master- 
of -works  at  Rheims,  whose  name  was  inscribed  in  the  labyrinth, 
was  Bernard  de  Soissons.  He  worked  here  for  thirty-five 
years;  the  inscription  states  that  he  made  five  bays  of  the 
nave — no  doubt  the  westernmost  ones — and  that  he  opened 
the  big  O,  the  rose  window  of  twelve  mammoth  petals  that 
flowers  in  the  west  fagade,  and  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
designs  of  the  age.  By  the  end  of  the  XIII  century,  therefore, 
Rheims  Cathedral  was  completed  in  its  main  parts.  Carried 

1  The  Benedictines'  church  at  Orbais  (Marne),  between  Rheims  and  Chalons,  con- 
tains some  exceptionally  good  XHI-century  windows.  Its  nave  has  been  destroyed, 
but  the  transept  and  the  choir,  with  its  radiating  chapels  (c.  1200),  survive.  The 
World  War  swept  over  Orbais,  but  the  abbatial  is  unharmed.  Heron  de  Villefosse, 
Abbaye  d'Orbais  (Paris,  1892). 

190 


ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

on  with  scarcely  a  pause,  and  always  after  the  original  plan  of 
Jean  d'Orbais,  the  great  church  kept  its  unity  throughout. 
The  first  four  architects  who  during  a  century  had  directed 
the  works  were  succeeded  by  Robert  de  Coucy,  to  whom  for 
a  time  was  erroneously  attributed  the  original  plan,  but  who 
really  continued  to  build  the  elaborate  west  fagade. 

That  frontispiece  of  Rheims  Cathedral,  with  its  cloud  of 
witnesses,  is  a  culmination  of  Gothic  art.  Some  have  called 
it  a  work  of  the  XIV  century,  but  the  labyrinth,  set  in  the 
pavement  before  Robert  de  Coucy's  day,  distinctly  attributed 
the  placing  of  the  big  rose  window  to  Bernard  de  Soissons, 
who  was  in  the  city  till  1298.  Also  a  text  of  1299  refers  to 
one  of  the  west  towers,  and  the  armor  worn  in  the  David- 
Goliath  group  of  the  gable  is  of  the  1280  type.  All  critics 
acknowledge  that  the  big  statues  of  the  portals  belong  in 
main  part  to  the  golden  period  of  Gothic  sculpture,  and 
were  done  between  1250  and  1260. l  The  images  under  the 
southwest  tower  had  been  prepared  about  thirty  years  earlier, 
in  the  time  of  Jean  d'Orbais.  The  fagade  of  Rheims  inspired 
many  a  later  Gothic  frontispiece — Meaux,  Tours,  Rouen, 
Troyes,  and  Abbeville. 

The  cathedral  went  on  perfecting  itself  in  detail,  and  was 
nearing  a  complete  finish  when,  four  months  after  the  raising 
of  the  siege  of  Orleans,  Jeanne  d'Arc  brought  her  king  to  be 
crowned  in  the  city  where  two  hundred  years  earlier  St. 
Louis  had  been  anointed.  Three  gentlemen  of  Anjou  wrote  a 
letter  to  the  queen  of  Charles  VII,  Marie  of  Anjou,  and  to 
her  mother,  Jolande  of  Aragon,  to  describe  the  ceremonies  at 
Rheims  on  that  fifth  day  of  August;  1429.  As  the  crown  was 
set  on  the  king's  head  trumpets  rang  out,  till  it  seemed  that 
the  vaults  would  crack,  and  every  man  cried  "Noel!""  and  drew 
his  sword.  A  fair  sight  it  was  to  see  the  gallant  bearing  of 
Jeanne  the  Maid  as  she  stood  by  the  king,  holding  the  banner 
she  cherished  more  than  the  sword. 


1  It  lias  been  suggested  that  about  1260  a  fagade  then  rising  was  dismounted  and 
moved  forward,  to  allow  for  the  insertion  of  several  more  bays  in  the  nave,  but  the 
idea  remains  a  hypothesis. 

191 


At  her  trial  in  Rouen  even  her  standard  was  used  against 
her.  "Why,"  asked  her  judges,  "was  your  banner  carried 
into  the  church  of  Rheims  to  the  consecration  rather  than 
those  of  the  other  captains?"  And  Jeanne  made  one  of  her 
ringing  answers :  "It  had  been  in  the  fray,  surely  there  was  good 
reason  it  should  be  at  the  victory  " — d  la  peine  .  .  .  a  Vhonneur — 
her  phrase  was  to  become  a  proverb  of  France.1  Jeanne  liked 
fair  play.  In  her  army  she  would  tolerate  no  pillage,  nor  eat 
of  food  which  she  thought  had  been  so  obtained.  But  then 
Jeanne  had  no  Kultur.  She  was  merely  an  unlettered  peasant 
girl  of  the  Middle  Ages,  who  called  it  plain  thieving  to  carry 
off  household  goods  in  an  invaded  country.  For  her  good 
friends  of  Rheims  la  bonne  Lorraine  kept  a  warm  place  in  her 
memory,  as  her  letter  to  them  showed:  "Mes  chiers  et  bons 
amis  les  bons  et  loyaulx  Franxois  de  la  cite  de  Rains,  Jehanne 
la  Pucelle  vousfaict  d  savoir  de  ses  nouvelles  .  .  .  je  vous  promect 
et  certify  que  je  ne  vous  abandonneray  poinct" 

Not  many  years  after  that  national  hour  of  rejoicing  the 
cathedral  of  Rheims  suffered  a  disaster  which  put  a  stop  to 
further  construction;  henceforth  only  restorations  went  on. 
In  1481  some  careless  plumbers  set  on  fire  the  timber  over- 
roof  and  the  molten  lead  ran  like  a  river  into  the  streets. 
Many  a  citizen  perished  in  the  effort  to  check  the  flames. 
The  stone  roof  of  the  cathedral  stood  firm,  justifying  those 
generations  whose  life  struggle  had  been  the  problem  how  to 
cover  their  churches  enduringly.  Though  all  France  con- 
tributed, the  huge  edifice  was  never  to  be  crowned  by  the  six 
spires  of  Jean  d'Orbais'  plan;  yet  even  as  it  is,  Rheims  pre- 
sents the  ideal  exterior  of  a  Gothic  cathedral. 

The  main  fagade  was  made  most  appropriately  a  thing  of 
pomp  and  circumstance,  regal  and  gorgeous  for  the  royal 
coronations.  No  need  to  hang  such  walls  with  tapestries  for 
the  feast.  The  three  deep  portals  were  united  as  one  by 
means  of  an  unbroken  line  of  thirty  or  more  large  images, 

1  E.  O'Reilly,  Les  deux  proces  de  condamnation  .  .  .  de  Jeanne  £  Arc,  eighth  inter- 
rogation, March  17,  1431.  "II  avail  etc  a  la  peine,  c'etait  bien  raison  qu'il  fut  a 
1'honneur."  (Paris,  Plon,  1868),  2  vols. 

192 


ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

deriving  from  similar  arrays  at  Chartres  and  Amiens,  but 
possessing  a  pronounced  indigenous  genius.  In  the  groups  of 
the  Annunciation  and  the  Presentation  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  a 
figure  of  spotless  purity,  meek  and  infinitely  touching  in  her 
little  mantle  that  falls  in  straight  simplicity  from  her  slender 
shoulders.  "By  humility  the  holy  Virgin  merited  to  become 
the  mother  of  God,"  was  the  answer  given  by  St.  Isabelle  of 
France,  the  only  sister  of  St.  Louis,  when  asked  why  she 
named  her  convent  at  Longchamp,  L'Humilite-Notre-Dame. 
A  very  different  Virgin  is  that  in  the  Visitation  group.  She 
and  St.  Elizabeth  are  draped  voluminously  like  stately  Roman 
matrons.  Those  two  statues  (imitated  by  Bamburg  Cathedral 
in  1280)  must  have  been  inspired  by  some  work  of  antiquity, 
of  which  Rheims  possessed  a  number.  Classic  influences  in 
the  imagery  of  northern  France  during  the  Middle  Ages  was 
transitory,  however.  First  and  last  mediaeval  sculpture  was  a 
building-stone  sculpture. 

In  the  eyes  and  on  the  lips  of  a  few  of  the  entranceway 
statues  hovered  a  half -smile,  a  fleeting,  rare  expression  which, 
long  centuries  before,  the  Greek  sculptors  preceding  Phidias 
had  achieved.  Again,  at  the  Renaissance,  Da  Vinci  was 
obsessed  by  the  same  expression,  "born  of  a  miracle,  meant 
to  gladden  men's  souls  forever."  To-day,  the  angel  image 
La  Sourire  stands  headless  at  the  portal  under  the  north 
tower. 

Not  only  was  the  west  frontispiece  of  Rheims  unique,  but 
its  transept  fagades  would  have  distinguished  any  cathedral. 
One  of  the  three  doors  of  the  north  facade  is  composed  of 
fragments  from  a  monument  which  had  been  in  the  Roman- 
esque metropolitan  burned  in  1210.  The  middle  door  com- 
memorates local  saints,  for  cathedrals  were  historians  and 
linked  the  generations  with  that  continuance  of  tradition 
which  makes  the  strength  of  a  race.  To  honor  their  spiritual 
forefathers  was  held  to  be  patriotism  by  those  believing 
generations.  At  both  west  and  north  facades  was  an  image  of 
St.  Nicaise,  the  eleventh  bishop  of  Rheims,  who  had  been 
martyred  as  he  knelt  by  his  cathedral  door.  Tradition  relates 

193 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

that  he  was  reciting  the  Psalmist's  words,  "My  soul  is  bowed 
to  earth,"  when  the  Vandals  struck  off  his  head,  and  that  the 
severed  head  finished  the  verse:  "Verify  me,  O  Lord,  according 
to  thy  word."1 

The  fifteenth  bishop  (459-533),  St.  Remigius,  apostle  of 
the  Franks,  is  honored  by  a  statue.  In  the  cathedral  of  his 
day  he  baptized  Clovis,  and  thus  made  France  the  first 
orthodox  Christian  kingdom  of  the  West,  since  Gaul's  other 
conquerors  had  fallen  into  the  Arian  heresy.  Many  an 
archbishop  of  Rheims  played  a  foremost  part  in  the  life  of 
the  nation.  The  military  prowess  of  Turpin,  the  twenty- 
seventh  prelate  here,  is  related  in  the  Chanson  de  Roland? 
The  forty-first  archbishop  was  the  learned  Gerbert,  who 
died  Pope  Sylvester  II  (1003).  He  made  the  cathedral 
school  famous,  among  his  pupils  being  the  king's  son  and 
Bishop  Fulbert  of  Chartres. 

One  of  the  students  in  Rheims  in  that  age  was  St.  Bruno 
of  Cologne,  founder  of  the  Carthusian  Order.  For  long 
years  he  directed  the  cathedral  school,  guiding  the  people 
during  the  misrule  of  a  scandalous  archbishop.  A  pupil 
of  his  at  Rheims  became  Urban  II,  who  instigated  the  First 
Crusade.  And  a  century  later  one  of  his  ablest  and  holiest 
sons,  St.  Hugh  of  Avalon,  built  the  cathedral  choir  of  Lincoln, 
as  well  as  its  small  transept,  and  part  of  the  big  transept — 
the  oldest  examples  of  Early-English  Gothic.  In  1180,  the 
archbishop  of  Rheims,  Guillaume  de  Champagne,  crowned 
as  king  his  nephew,  Philippe-Auguste.  Only  those  shepherds 

1  During  this  summer  of  1920  excavations  made  under  Rheims  Cathedral  have 
brought  to  light  vestiges  of  the  cathedral  of  the  Virgin,  founded  by  St.  Nicaise  in  401. 
Three  Roman  arches  in  good  condition  support  the  venerable  nave,  in  a  corner  of 
whose  floor  was  found  buried  sacred  images  of  ivory  most  beautifully  carved.  Evi- 
dently they  had  been  hidden  to  save  them  from  the  invading  Vandals. 
:  "Et  les  Francais  disent:  Quel  grand  courage! 

Avec  Turpin  la  croix  est  bien  gardee!" 

Roland  addressed  the  dead  archbishop- on  the  field  of  Roncevaux: 
"Eh!     Chevalier  de  bonne  aire,  homme  noble, 
Nul  ne  sut  mieux,  depuis  les  saints  apotres 
La  foi  garder  et  convertir  les  hommes: 
Du  paradis  lui  soit  la  porte  ouverte!" 

— La  Chanson  de  Roland  (Edition,  A.  d'Avril). 
194 


ERA  OF  THE   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

of  the  flock  who  attained  to  canonized  sainthood  were  honored 
by  statues  at  the  church  entrances. 

The  Beau  Dieu  of  Rheims  of  most  benign  majesty  is  the 
central  image  of  the  transept's  northern  fagade.  Surmount- 
ing it  is  a  Last  Judgment  that  speaks  well  for  the  honesty 
of  the  clerics  whose  pupils  were  the  sculptors.  Here  at  the 
king's  own  basilica,  whither  he  came  for  the  most  brilliant 
hour  of  his  life,  was  sculptured  a  crowned  monarch,  as  the 
front  figure,  marching  to  hell,  and  behind  him  walked  a 
bishop.  No  pharisees  were  the  men  of  the  XIII  century. 
Sin  was  sin,  and  all  men  were  equal  before  sin's  punishment. 

There  are  statues  on  the  towers  of  that  same  north  frontis- 
piece to  which  names  have  been  given.  One  has  been  called 
Philippe- Auguste,  and  it  certainly  was  a  portrait  study, 
whether  or  not  it  represented  the  most  able  monarch  of  the 
feudal  ages,  the  victor  of  Bouvines,  who  tripled  the  area  of 
France  and  under  whom  was  begun  almost  every  Gothic 
cathedral  in  the  land.  The  name  of  his  grandson,  St.  Louis, 
has  been  given  to  another  image.  In  a  niche  of  the  fagade 
stands  a  charming  Eve  holding  a  very  mediaeval  serpent. 

One  can  merely  indicate,  in  passing,  the  astounding  wealth 
of  Rheims — five  thousand  images  whose  verve  and  fecundity 
are  marvelous.  "If  your  heart  is  right,  all  creatures  will 
be  for  you  a  book  of  holy  doctrine,"  so  they  dared  to  carve 
clown,  dog,  cat,  or  sheep  on  pinnacle,  or  in  hidden  nook, 
and  their  flora  was  as  generous  as  their  fauna.  A  local  botanist 
has  found  that  every  leaf  growing  to-day  by  the  roadsides 
was  reproduced  in  the  cathedral.  It  was  only  natural  that 
in  Champagne  the  vine  leaf  should  be  popular;  on  one  of  the 
capitals  of  the  nave  a  pleasant  vintage  scene  is  represented. 

If  the  gorgeous  west  approaches  of  the  Cathedral-Royal 
were  suited  for  earthly  pageantry,  its  eastern  end  paid  homage, 
in  holier  simplicity,  to  the  Spiritual  King.  Around  the 
exterior  wall  of  the  apse  was  set  a  guard  of  angels,  each  carry- 
ing an  emblem  of  the  Passion,  or  of  its  symbol,  the  Mass — 
chalice,  censer,  missal,  spear — and  the  procession  met  at 
the  Christ  image  placed  in  the  center  of  the  curving  wall. 

195 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 


The  ordinance  was  derived  from  Byzantine  art.  Many  an 
artist  has  said  of  the  apse  sculpture  of  Rheims  that  the 
Greeks  can  show  no  lovelier  work.  A  few  years  later,  more 
angelic  thrones,  dominations,  and  powers  were  set  around 
this,  the  Cathedral  of  the  Angels.  A  seraphic  sentry  adorned 

each  buttress  and  at  the  same 
time  increased  its  counterbutting 
force,  and  were  agents  toward  the 
swifter  grounding  of  the  load. 

And  now,  having  touched  su- 
perficially on  the  exterior  of  this 
inexhaustible  church,  let  us  step 
inside  its  imaged  doors.  On  the 
inner  wall  of  the  three  western 
portals  is  an  elaborate  decoration 
found  nowhere  else.  Tier  upon 
tier  of  statues  shrined  in  foliage- 
covered  niches  rise  to  the  level  of 
the  triforium.  Never  has  a  wall 
been  more  glorified  both  within 
and  without.  Lavish  leaf  orna- 
mentation forms  the  capitals  of 
the  piers.  Each  pier  consists  of 
a  circular  shaft  cantoned  by  four 
lesser  columns;  the  capitals  of  the  latter  are  divided  into 
two  stories  because  their  diameter  is  less — a  skillful  con- 
trivance that  solves  the  difficulty  of  grouping  pillars  of 
different  sizes. 

The  nave  of  Rheims  was  never  weakened  by  the  addition 
of  side  chapels,  which  always  diminishes  the  integrity  of  an 
edifice.  In  fact,  the  lower  walls  l  as  well  as  the  piers  were 

1  Along  the  lower  walls  of  the  side  aisles  of  Rheims  hung  splendid  tapestries,  "color 
of  incense,  silver-gray  dashed  with  blue,  with  red."  They  related  Our  Lady's  life 
and  were  given  in  1530  by  the  saintly  archbishop,  Robert  de  Lenoncourt,  the  same 
who  presented  to  St.  Remi's  monastery  church  other  sumptuous  embroideries,  and 
who  remade  as  Flamboyant  Gothic  St.  Remi's  south  fagade.  The  tapestries  of  Rheims 
were  saved  from  the  wrecked  city  and  exhibited  in  Paris  during  the  World  War  for 
the  benefit  of  the  refugees.  It  is  said  that  a  certain  number  of  the  stained-g 
windows  of  the  cathedral  were  dismounted  in  time  to  escape  annihilation, 


The  Angel  Apse  of  Rheims 

(c. 


ERA  OF   THE   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

made  oversolid  for  what  they  bear,  since  it  had  not  yet  been 
learned  how  to  apply  exactly  the  right  counterforce  to  the 
pressure  of  the  vaulting.  Amiens  was  to  be  the  first  to  achieve 
that  perfect  equilibrium. 

The  interior  proportions  of  Rheims  are  harmonious;  the 
side  aisles  are  relatively  right  with  the  central  vessel,  and  the 
nave  leads  up  well  to  the  sanctuary,  which,  inside  and  out,  is 
beyond  criticism.  As  a  whole,  however,  the  interior  of  this 
cathedral  has  not  the  slender  upwardness  of  Amiens  nor  the 
ascetic  holiness  of  Chartres.  It  stands  more  than  it  soars. 
It  praises  the  deity  in  another  fashion  than  does  the  mystic 
cathedral.  The  keynote  here  is  a  right-minded  human  splendor. 
Robust  and  majestic,  this  is  the  church  for  state  pageants,  the 
regal  temple  for  national  festivals. 

Alas!  poor  battle- worn  Rheims !  Alas  for  the  bons  et  loyaulx 
Franxois  de  la  cite  de  Rains!  Has  Jehanne  la  Purcelle  forgotten 
her  promise  never  to  abandon  you? 

Mourant  en  plein  martyre  avec  vivacite"   .  .  . 
Masquant  sous  sa  visiere  une  efficacit6  .  .  . 
Jetant  toute  une  arm6e  aux  pieds  de  la  priere.  .  .  . 

So  wrote  the  poet  who  fell  on  the  field  of  honor,  in  September, 
1914,  of  St.  Jeanne,  whose  martyrdom  was  a  victory;  so  he 
might  have  written  of  Rheims  Cathedral.  Again  a  sublime 
holocaust  was  needed  for  the  saving  of  the  soul  of  France. 


How  doth  the  city  sit  solitary  that  was  full  of  people.  How  is  she  become 
a  widow,  she  that  was  great  among  the  nations. — JEREMIAH:  Lamentations. 

Designer  infinite! 
Ah!  must  Thou  char  the  wood  e'er  Thou  canst  limn  with  it? 

— FRANCIS  THOMPSON,  The  Hound  of  Heaven. 

In  the  first  days  of  September,  1914,  after  the  battle  of  the 
Marne,  the  Germans  evacuated  Rheims,  which  they  had 
occupied  for  little  over  a  week.  Before  they  quitted  the  city, 
some  cans  of  inflammable  liquids,  with  bundles  of  straw,  were 

197 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

set  on  the  roof  of  the  cathedral,  and  there  they  were  found 
and  made  note  of  officially  by  Frenchmen  who  ascended  the 
towers  to  hang  out  the  Red  Cross  flag.  The  destruction  of 
Rheims  Cathedral  was  planned  deliberately  and  in  cold  blood 
it  was  carried  out.  No  military  excuse  for  the  crime  is  possi- 
ble, since  General  Joffre  made  a  formal  statement  that  at  no 
time  were  the  church  towers  used  as  posts  of  observation. 

From  the  heights  a  few  miles  away  the  enemy  opened  fire 
on  the  city.  It  is  said  that  Baron  von  Plattenburg  ordered 
the  bombardment.  General  von  Haeringen  is  also  cited  as 
an  executioner  of  Rheims  Cathedral.  On  September  17th  and 
18th  the  church  was  riddled  with  projectiles.  Between 
dawn  and  sunset,  on  September  19th,  over  five  hundred  of 
them  struck  the  mammoth  church.  About  four  o'clock  on 
that  fateful  day,  Saturday,  September  19,  1914,  the  timber 
roof  caught  fire  from  an  inflammable  bomb.  In  less  than 
an  hour  flames  were  devouring  the  wooden  scaffolding  which, 
by  ill  luck,  because  of  repairs  in  progress,  framed  part  of 
the  edifice.  Fire  lapped  and  calcined  the  outer  walls,  oblit- 
erating the  kings  and  the  angels  and  the  saints,  wiping  out 
all  the  loving  handicraft  of  the  old  stonecutters.  Once  again 
molten  lead  ran  in  the  streets  of  Rheims.  Fire  lapped  the 
sculptured  screen  inside  the  western  doors,  and  the  lovely 
lavish  chiseling  has  become  a  blurred,  amorphous  mass.  Pro- 
jectiles tore  through  the  gaping  windows  and  crashed  against 
the  opposite  walls.  Some  of  the  burning  timber  from  the  over- 
roof  fell  through  the  apertures  of  the  vault's  keystones  and 
ignited  the  straw  spread  on  the  pavement  for  the  wounded 
German  soldiers  who  had  been  left  behind  when  the  invaders 
evacuated  the  city. 

Let  an  eyewitness  relate  the  burning  of  Rheims  Cathedral: 
"It  stood  enveloped  in  flames,  one  towering  flame  itself. 
Before  the  outrage  something  surged  unchained  at  the  root 
of  our  being.  Our  cathedral !  Our  hearts  broke  as  we  watched 
its  desecration.  An  aged  woman  of  the  city  intoned  solemnly : 
'This  will  bode  them  no  good!'  ('Ca  ne  leur  portera  pas  bon- 
heur!')  We  stood  in  groups  watching  with  fierce  anger  the 

198 


ERA  OF  THE  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

conflagration.  We  walked,  we  spoke,  but  like  automatons, 
for  our  souls  were  groaning  with  anguish.  Our  cathedral! 
Premiere  page  de  France!  Geste  des  a'ieux!  Legs  des  siecles 
devenant  aujourd'hui,  en  ce  poignant  martyre,  I'hostie  nationale! " 
Suddenly  word  came  that  the  German  wounded  inside  the 
church  must  be  saved.  The  archpriest  of  the  cathedral, 
Canon  Landrieux  (to-day  a  bishop),  called  for  aid  from  the 
onlookers.  He  was  answered  by  angry  murmurs:  "What! 
must  we  then  risk  our  lives  to  save  these  bombarders  of 
hospitals,  these  incendiaries  of  cathedrals?"  Then  a  young 
girl's  voice  rose,  trembling  with  tears:  "On  est  de  France, 
nous  autres!"  And  instantly  men  stepped  forward  to  aid 
the  heroic  priest  save  their  enemies  from  the  flaming  furnace. 

Poor  martyred  Rheims!  Its  once  illuminated  westerji  front 
is  battered  and  corroded  past  restoral,  and  is  falling  flake  by 
flake.  With  a  touch  of  the  finger  the  stone  crumbles  into 
dust.  The  towers  are  mutilated.  One  after  another  the  rapt 
and  fearless  angels  on  the  buttresses  have  been  toppled  down. 
As  the  incessant  rain  of  fire  and  iron  came  from  the  northeast, 
the  transept's  northern  entranceway  is  wrecked — its  historic 
statues  mere  unsightly  stumps.  Never  again  will  the  hardy 
lesson  of  the  Last  Judgment  be  preached  at  the  ruined  portal. 

No  more  will  the  triple-winged  seraphim  chant  hosannas  in 
the  great  western  rose.  No  coming  generations  of  travelers  will 
carry  away  an  undying  memory  of  the  sunset  hour  in  the  great 
church,  when  the  western  inclosure  became  a  resplendent 
sheet  of  flame,  and  those  who  paced  up  and  down  the  basilica 
gazed  with  awe  at  that  majestic  spectacle  of  Art  and  Faith. 
The  XHI-century  windows  of  the  clearstory  are  pulverized; 
scarcely  a  fragment  is  left  of  the  forty  lancets  of  the  nave 
where,  in  superimposed  rows,  the  kings  of  France  stood,  with 
the  archbishops  who  had  crowned  them,  big-eyed  barbaric 
images,  so  intense  of  hue  that  one  remembers  them  as  blood- 
red  rubies.  The  loss  of  the  windows  of  Rheims  has  been 
expressed  poignantly  by  Pierre  Loti,  who  spent  a  Sunday 
in  October,  1915,  in  the  cathedral.  He  found  the  silence  of 
death  within  its  ravaged  walls  that  for  centuries  had  echoed 

199 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  music  of  the  liturgy.  Only  a  cold  wind  now  and  then 
made  fitful  psalmody.  When  it  blew  strongly  he  could  hear  a 
patter  as  of  delicate  light  pearls.  It  was  the  falling  to  oblivion 
of  what  still  remained  of  the  ancient  windows. 

The  hammer  of  Odin  and  of  Thor  has  gone  on  beating 
down  relentlessly  the  national  church,  and  a  Berlin  poet  has 
sung,  exultantly:  "The  bells  sound  no  more  in  the  two- 
towered  Dom.  We  have  closed  with  lead,  O  Rheims,  thy 
house  of  idolatry."  Rheims  was  hated  of  old.  In  its  cathe- 
dral of  1119  Calixtus  II,  of  the  blood  of  the  Capetians,  had 
excommunicated  the  would-be  autocrat  of  Europe,  the  German 
emperor,  who  had  proved  himself  an  unnatural  son,  a  treach- 
erous neighbor,  and  one  who  laid  sacrilegious  hands  on  holy 
things.  As  the  pope  pronounced  the  sentence  the  four  hun- 
dred prelates  gathered  in  the  cathedral  dashed  down  their 
candles.  Yes,  Rheims  was  hated. 

Every  check  to  the  invader's  troops  in  the  trenches  was 
immediately  revenged  on  the  defenseless  church.  Rheims 
Cathedral  bombarded  became  a  tragically  recurrent  line  in  the 
war's  official  bulletin.  On  October  14,  1914,  a  hole,  meters 
wide,  was  torn  in  the  most  beautiful  of  Gothic  apses.  On 
February  21  and  22,  1915,  the  bombardment  surpassed  in 
savagery  the  horrors  of  the  fateful  September  19th.  On 
March  29,  1915,  a  German  airship  dropped  inflammable 
bombs  on  the  choir,  and  before  many  months  of  this  rain 
of  iron  and  fire  the  masonry  roof  began  to  give  way.  During 
the  half  year  preceding  the  armistice  a  veritable  avalanche  of 
shells  fell  on  the  stricken  city,  where  remained  only  a  few 
hundred  of  its  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  From 
June  15  to  June  28,  1918,  over  sixteen  thousand  shells  fell  on 
Rheims,  and,  strange  to  tell,  amid  it  all  Dubois'  statue  of 
Jeanne  d'Arc  mounted  on  her  charger  on  the  cathedral  parvis 
stood  unscathed.1  On  July  5th  eight  shells  crashed  into 
the  western  entrances;  and  so  on  runs  the  sinister  record. 

1  Sung  in  the  French  trenches : 

".  .  .  Attila  II  s'en  veng  et  brule 
Le  baptistere  de  nos  rois. 
200 


ERA  OF  THE   GREAT   CATHEDRALS 

"We  wait  for  a  chastisement  equal  to  the  crime,"  is  the 
word  of  Enlart,  the  archaeologist.  And  the  world's  heart 
echoes  the  verdict.  When  on  that  fatal  September  day  of 
1914,  the  staggering  almost  unbelievable  report  first  spread 
over  France,  "Rheims  Cathedral  is  in  flames" — many  a  strong 
man  wept  on  the  streets  of  French  cities,  and  throughout  the 
tragic  night  of  the  conflagration  the  French  soldiers,  camped 
over  the  plains  for  miles,  watched  in  anguish  the  destruction  of 
their  patrimony,  of  their  ancestress  cathedral,  Tholocauste  de  la 
patrie.  In  Jeanne's  century  it  had  taken  a  long  and  cruel  war 
and  the  sacrifice  of  her  who  was  the  incarnation  of  France  to 
remake  the  stricken  soul  of  the  nation,  and  again  an  overwhelm- 
ing martyrdom  was  needed  to  set  right  the  grievous  pitie  there 
was  in  the  country  of  France. 

The  city  of  Rheims  is  to-day  a  shapeless  mass,  resembling 
a  place  wrecked  by  ancient  barbarism.  The  archiepiscopal 
palace,  whose  two-storied  chapel  was  built  by  the  same  hands 
that  laid  the  choir  stones  of  Notre  Dame,  is  entirely  de- 
molished. The  cathedral,  though  ravaged  irreparably,  still 
towers  above  the  ruined  city.  Had  Amiens  been  subjected  to 
the  same  bombardment  as  Rheims,  it  would  have  collapsed 
long  ago.  It  is  the  surplus  strength  of  Rheims'  foundations, 
somewhat  criticized  by  architects,  that  has  saved  the  church  from 
utter  destruction.  Notre  Dame  of  Rheims  was  built  for  eternity. 

The  mystic  wonder  of  the  severed  head  of  St.  Nicaise  has 
been  repeated.  Immolated  Rheims  has  stirred  anew  the  latent 
crusading  blood.  "Honor"  and  "sacrifice"  and  all  the  brave 
words  of  the  days  of  chivalry  are  again  on  the  lips  of  French- 
men, and  many  a  scoffer  has  been  beaten  to  his  knees  by  the 
same  spirit  which  actuated  the  generations  who  built  the 
cathedrals  and,  building  them,  welded  a  nation's  unity.  Those 


Un  siccle  d'art  a  chaque  bombe 
Se  craquele,  s'effrite  et  tombe 
Avec  un  rale,  et  tout  d'un  coup! 
.  .  .  Mais  dans  la  ville  ruinee, 
Par  1'incendie  illuminee, 
Jeanne  d"  Arc  est  encor  debout!" 

— (TufcoooR  BOTREL,  Refrains  de  guerre  (Paris,  Payot,  1915). 
201 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

who  committed  the  sacrilege  of  Rheims  forgot  that  when  man- 
kind is  robbed  of  a  heritage  it  sets  the  criminal  in  the  pillory 
of  history.  To-day  Rheims  Cathedral  lies  wounded  on  the 
field  of  honor;  Rheims  Cathedral  is  forever  the  symbol  of  a 
people's  resurrection.  ^1  la  peine!  .  .  .  A  Vhonneur! 

AMIENS  CATHEDRAL  i 

There  have  been,  in  humanity's  story,  only  two  great  schools  of  art — 
that  of  Greece,  and  that  of  the  Gothic  era.  For  only  then  was  expressed 
the  ideas  and  the  religious  spirit  of  the  peoples  that  gave  birth  to  them. 
The  Greeks  rendered  the  Pagan  spirit,  the  Pagan  emotion  •  they  left  us  the 
Parthenon.  The  Gothic  School  rendered  the  Christian  idea,  the  Christian 
spirit.  It  has  left  us  Notre  Dame  of  Amiens. — EMILE  LxMBiN.2 

The  terrors  and  the  thunder  of  the  World  War  menaced 
Amiens  through  the  long  four  years,  but  the  grand  doctrinal 
temple,  almost  superhuman  in  its  majesty,  was  spared  the  fate 
of  Rheims,  Soissons,  and  the  noble  church  of  St.  Martin  at 
Ipres,  begun  in  the  same  twelvemonth  as  itself.  The  statues 
at  the  portals  of  Amiens  have  seen  pass  the  great  personages 
of  the  mediaeval  centuries.  The  kings  of  this  world  felt  hon- 
ored to  visit  the  church  of  Our  Lady  and  St.  Firman.  Its 
reconciliation  Mass  put  the  seal  on  a  treaty  of  goodwill  be- 
tween France  and  England,  and  united  the  English  ruler  with 
his  rebellious  people;  St.  Louis,  the  peace  maker,  prayed  in 
its  sanctuary.  On  its  very  enemies  it  imposed  veneration. 
When  Charles  le  Temeraire  attacked  the  city  in  1471  he 
ordered  his  troops  to  respect  the  cathedral. 

1  Georges  Durand,  Monographic  de  Teglise  Notre  Dame,  cathedrale  d' 'Amiens  (Paris, 
Picard  et  fils,  1903),  2  vols.,  folio;   ibid.,  Description  abregee  de  la  cathedrale  d' Amiens 
(Amiens,  Yvert  et  Tellier,  1904);   ibid.,  "  La  peinture  sur  verre  au  XIII6  siecle  et  les 
vitraux  de  la  cathedrale  d'Amiens,"  in  Memoires  de  la  Societe  des  antiquaires  de  Picardie 
1891,  4e  serie,  tome  I,  p.  389;  Jourdain  et  Duval,  "  Le  grand  portail  de  la  cathedrale 
d'Amiens,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  vols.  11,  12,  passim;   ibid.,  Cathedrale  d'Amiens, 
les  stalles  et  clotures  du  chceur  (Amiens,  1867),  8vo;   T.  Perkins,  The  Cathedral  Church 
of  Amiens  (London,  Bell,  1902);    Rodiere  et  Guyencourt,  La  Picardie  historique  et 
monumentale   (Paris,   Picard,    1906),   4to;    Camille   Enlart,   Monuments  religieux  de 
r architecture  romane  et  de  transition  dans  la  region  Picarde  (Amiens,  Yvert  et  Tellier, 
1895);  Taylor  et  Nodier,  Voyages  pittoresques  .  .  .  dans  I'ancienne  France.     Picardie, 
(Paris,  Didron,  1835-45),  3  vols.;    fimile  Male,  L'art  religieux  de  la  fin  du  moyen  age 
en  France  (Paris,  Colin,  1910);    A.  de  Colonne,  Histoire  de  la  ville  d'Amiens  (Paris, 
1900);  Demogeon,  La  Picardie  (Collection,  Les  regions  de  la  France),  (Paris,  L.  Cerf). 

2  Emile  Lambin,  Laflore  des  grandes  cathedrales  (Paris,  1897). 

202 


ERA  OF  THE   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

While  the  upper  vaulting  of  Chartres  was  being  finished  and 
the  choir  of  Rheims  was  building,  there  was  laid  the  first  stone 
of  Notre  Dame  of  Amiens  in  1220.  Amiens  is  the  Gothic 
cathedral  par  excellence,  recognized  from  the  first  as  a  master- 
piece— the  Parthenon  of  Gothic — and  immediately  taken  as  a 
model.  The  cathedrals  of  Tours  and  of  Troyes,  already  begun, 
were  now  continued  like  the  big  church  of  Picardy.  The 
Sainte-Chapelle  in  Paris  was  modeled  on  the  Lady  chapel  of 
Amiens.  The  cathedrals  of  Clermont,  Narbonne,  Rodez,  and 
Limoges  are  "daughters  of  Amiens."  Its  influence  extended 
to  the  church  of  St.  Sauveur  at  Bruges,  to  the  cathedral  of 
Prague,  and  to  the  choir  of  Cologne,  the  latter  being  almost  a 
replica.1 

Amiens  carried  the  Gothic  principle  of  equilibrium  farther 
than  Rheims.  The  aisles  were  made  higher,  the  bays  wider, 
the  points  of  ground  support  fewer,  and  the  piers  less  heavy. 
No  energy  was  wasted.  Each  part  was  made  just  strong 
enough.  To  go  beyond  this  culminating  point  of  constructive 
boldness  was  inevitably  to  decline. 

No  one  has  better  summed  up  the  amplitude  of  this  inspired 
church  than  M.  Georges  Durand,  its  latest  historian,  whose 
monograph  is  a  model:  "A  vast  space  inundated  with  air  and 
light  has  here  been  covered  by  stone  vaults,  as  light  and  solid 
as  possible;  those  vaults  have  been  raised  to  a  height  never 
before  attained;  no  longer  any  walls;  the  solidity  of  the 
edifice  is  assured  by  a  play  of  pushes  and  resistances;  flying 
buttresses  exactly  meeting  the  necessary  spot  to  counterbut  the 
great  vault;  the  system  of  equilibrium  perfectly  known,  and 
applied  with  a  rigor  and  audacity  unbelievable;  the  least 
possible  sharpness  given  to  transverse  arches;  the  collaterals 
raised  to  a  great  height — all  contribute  to  give  this  interior  its 
expression  of  immensity." 

Amiens  is  a  "triumphal  chant."  The  "vast  space  inclosed" 
produces  an  impression  that  is  confounding.  When  first 


1  L.  Reau,  Cologne  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  L.  Leger, 
Prague  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  Henry  Hymans, 
Bruges  et  Ipres  (Paris,  H.  Laurens). 

203 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

you  step  inside  the  western  doors  of  Amiens,  you  pause  in 
awe.  The  emotion  felt  has  the  efficacy  of  a  prayer. 

The  edifice  is  prodigious  and  appears  so;  only  St.  Sophia, 
Cologne  Cathedral,  and  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  cover  larger  areas. 
Now  in  St.  Peter's  each  detail  was  enlarged  in  proportion  to 
the  giant  scale  chosen;  thus,  a  cherub  would  have  a  thigh  the 
size  of  an  elephant's.  The  result  is  that  the  great  church 
appears  less  than  its  real  size.  The  method  of  the  mediaeval 
architect  was  precisely  opposite.  He  saw  no  advantage  in 
making  his  edifice  appear  smaller  than  it  really  was.  He 
observed  that  no  matter  how  big  a  tree  might  grow,  its  leaves 
were  no  larger  than  those  on  smaller  trees.  The  mediaeval 
architect  took  for  his  scale  of  measurement  the  height  of  man. 
His  doorways  were  made  for  man  to  walk  under.  In  the  bases 
of  his  piers,  in  the  triforium  arches,  in  the  normal  size  of  his 
sculpted  flora  and  fauna,  he  recalled  to  the  eye  the  scale  of  a 
man,  his  chosen  echelle:  "And  he  measured  the  wall  thereof 
...  the  measure  of  a  man,  which  is  of  an  angel."1  No  matter 
how  large  a  Gothic  church  might  be,  the  statues  decorating  it 
did  not  increase  in  scale.  To  those  who  prefer  a  cathedral 
of  the  north  there  will  always  seem  to  be  a  touch  of  the  arti- 
ficial, of  the  tour  de  force  in  St.  Peter's. 

The  name  of  the  master  mind  who  designed  the  cathedral 
of  Picardy  was  Robert  de  Lusarches,  recorded  in  a  labyrinth 
formerly  in  the  nave's  pavement,  as  were  his  two  successors, 
Thomas  de  Cormont  and  his  son  Renaud.  The  occasion  for  a 
new  structure  was  the  fire  of  1218  which  partly  destroyed  the 
Romanesque  cathedral.  As  its  old  choir  was  preserved  suf- 
ficiently to  serve  for  a  while  longer,  the  new  cathedral  was  begun 
by  the  nave,  not  the  usual  procedure.  The  nave  rose  in  one 
supreme  effort;  from  start  to  finish  its  plan  never  deviated. 
It  has  been  taken  as  the  typical  masterpiece.  "The  fagade 
of  Paris,  the  tower  of  Chartres,  the  sculpture  of  Rheims,  the 
nave  of  Amiens"  is  a  popular  summing  up. 

By  1236  the  nave  of  Amiens  was  finished,  whereupon  the 
Romanesque  choir  was  replaced  by  a  Gothic  one  whose 

1  Apocalypse  xxi:17. 

204 


The  Transept  of  Amiens  Cathedral  (1220-1280} 


plan  had  been  drawn  by  Robert  de  Lusarches  at  the  same 
time  with  that  of  the  nave.  His  feeling  for  proportion  was 
unfaltering;  the  relation  between  every  part  of  his  church  is 
perfect.  The  interior  elevation  in  three  vertical  stories  was 
to  become  classic — a  pier  arcade — which  is  one-third  of  the 
entire  height,  and  of  the  remaining  upper  wall  a  clearstory 
which  occupies  two-thirds  and  a  triforium  one-third.  The 
church  is  three  times  as  wide  as  the  side  aisle  is  high,  and 
height  and  span  correlate  with  length.  Subtlety  of  calcu- 
lation is  seen  everywhere.  The  perspective  view  became  a 
kind  of  classic  type.  As  you  gaze  down  the  church  toward 
the  curving  east  wall  which  closes  the  vista,  you  see  beneath 
the  pier  arcades  of  the  sanctum  sanctorum  the  windows  of 
the  apse  chapels  behind;  they  appear  to  fill  the  apertures 
symmetrically,  whereas  at  Beauvais,  where  the  side  aisle  is 
exceedingly  high,  the  windows  of  the  chapels  rise  to  merely 
half  the  height  of  the  pier  arches.  The  cathedrals  of  Tours 
and  Clermont  followed  the  more  satisfactory  arrangement  of 
Amiens. 

In  the  last  days  of  Gothic  architecture  the  dislike  of  the 
horizontal  line  was  to  be  carried  to  such  an  extent  that 
even  the  capitals,  which  the  custom  of  all  nations  had 
approved  for  three  thousand  years,  were  eliminated.  At 
Amiens  a  sane  balance  was  kept.  Under  its  triforium  runs  a 
deeply  carved  band  of  foliage  broken  only  at  the  triumphal 
arches  of  the  transept-crossing.  Only  there  does  the  ascend- 
ing line  rise  unobstructed  from  pavement  to  vault.  And 
yet  no  church  ever  soared  more  confidently.  The  very  hall- 
mark of  genius  is  Amiens'  strong  horizontal  leaf  garland- 
just  the  needed  touch  to  give  variety  to  regularity  as  grandiose 
as  this.  In  the  nave  the  frieze  was  cut  before  the  posing  of 
the  stones,  but  in  the  choir  the  sculj:  ture  was  done  in  situ. 

The  fenestration  of  this  cathedral  of  St.  Louis'  reign 
shows  the  national  art  in  its  prime.  The  glazed  triforium  is  a 
kind  of  pedestal  for  the  clearstory,  with  which  it  is  bound  in  a 
single  composition  by  means  of  continuous  mullions.  The 
original  glass  was  of  the  Sainte-Chapelle  type,  made  by  the 

205 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Paris  school  which  led  in  the  second  half  of  the  XIII  century, 
and  were  it  still  in  existence  the  interior  of  Amiens  would  be 
a  gorgeous  sight.  Only  vestiges  have  survived ;  in  some  of  the 
choir  chapels  are  patchwork  panels  of  ancient  fragments.  No 
one  denies  that  the  light  enters  this  cathedral  too  profusely 
for  the  mystic  seclusion  beloved  of  the  soul. 

The  prelate  who  laid  the  foundation  stone  of  Amiens  in 
1220  was  Evrard  de  Fouilloy,  cousin  of  that  archbishop  of 
the  great  house  of  Joinville  who  was  a  builder  at  Rheims. 
Intimate  with  Innocent  III,  connoisseur  in  notable  men,  the 
bishop  of  Amiens  was  one  of  the  many  building  prelates  who 
attended  the  Lateran  Council  whose  seances  must  often  have 
appeared  like  an  Amis  des  Cath&drales  reunion.  Bishop 
Evrard's  splendid  bronze  tomb,  cast  at  one  flow,  escaped  the 
smelting  pot  of  the  Revolution,  and  with  that  of  his  successor, 
Geoffrey  d'Eu,  who  chanted  the  first  Mass  in  his  cathedral 
in  1236,  the  year  of  his  death,  is  now  placed  under  the  pier 
arcades  of  the  nave.  "Here  lies  Evrard, "  runs  the  inscription, 
"a  man  compassionate  to  the  afflicted,  the  widows'  protector, 
the  orphans'  guardian,  who  fed  the  people,  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  this  structure,  to  whose  care  the  city  was 
given."  The  hand  of  the  bishop  is  raised  in  a  grave  gesture 
of  power.  The  image  of  Geoffrey  d'Eu  is  less  personal. 
"Bright-shining  man  of  Eu,"  runs  his  epitaph,  "by  whom 
the  throne  of  Amiens  rose  into  immensity."  The  saintly 
bishop  used  to  encourage  even  the  beggars  to  give  their  penny 
toward  raising  the  new  house  of  God. 

By  1245  bells  were  placed  in  the  western  towers;  then 
came  a  lull  in  the  work,  from  1247  to  1257,  for  the  bishop 
had  accompanied  St.  Louis  to  the  holy  wars.  Louis  IX  was 
in  Amiens  on  several  occasions  and  his  Sainte-Chapelle  at 
Paris  proved  his  admiration  for  the  classic  church.  As  the 
XIII  century  closed,  a  chapel  was  added  to  Amiens  by  her 
bishop,  the  learned  Guillaume  de  Macon,  a  personal  friend  of 
St.  Louis,  and  present  at  his  death  in  Tunis,  1270.  The  son 
and  successor  of  Louis  IX  sent  Guillaume  to  Rome  to  solicit 
his  father's  canonization.  During  the  XIV  century  other 

206 


ERA  OF  THE   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

side  chapels  were  added,  and  in  the  one  erected  by  Bishop 
La  Grange,  from  1373  to  1375,  appeared  for  the  first  time  in 
France  some  of  the  characteristics  of  Flamboyant  Gothic — 
the  flame  tracery  and  ramified  vaulting.  As  early  as  1270, 
however,  Amiens  had  made  a  sporadic  use  of  supplementary 
ribs,  in  the  square  over  the  transept-crossing,  employing 
them  there,  no  doubt,  in  order  to  break  up  the  immense 
expanses  of  infilling. 

Though  the  cathedral  of  Amiens  has  lost  its  stained  glass, 
it  has  retained  that  other  glory  of  decorative  art — its  sculp- 
ture. The  three  western  entrance  arches,  in  nine  orders, 
are  sovereign  compositions.  Probably  as  a  scheme  of  dog- 
matic theology  Amiens  is  even  more  complete  than  Chartres 
or  Rheinas.  The  main  fagade,  with  its  strong  buttress  lines 
unbroken  from  ground  to  tower,  would  be  the  grandest  of 
all  the  Gothic  frontispieces  had  it  been  completed  as  first 
planned.  But  only  in  its  lower  stories  is  it  of  the  XIII 
century,  and  the  towers  scarcely  rise  above  the  enormous 
parallelogram. 

At  the  trumeau  of  the  central  door  stands  le  Beau  Dieu  of 
Amiens,  of  stronger  personality  than  that  of  Rheims,  a  Christ 
of  the  West  more  than  the  East.  "He  is  the  master,  wise, 
steadfast,  fraternal,  with  the  patience  and  the  human  sym- 
pathy that  comprehend  man's  eternal  weaknesses." l  He 
treads  on  monsters  that  symbolize  Satan  and  Sin:  "Thou 
shalt  walk  upon  the  asp  and  the  basilisk;  the  lion  and  the 
dragon  shalt  thou  trample  under  foot."  About  him  stand 
the  best  loved  of  all  the  saints,  the  apostles — plain,  primitive 
men  in  whose  upturned  foreheads  shines  the  serenity  of 
certitude.  We  are  His  witnesses,  they  seem  to  be  saying,  and 
our  testimony  we  sealed  usque  ad  sanguinem:  "That  which 
we  have  seen  and  have  heard  we  declare  unto  you  .  .  ." 
"We  were  eyewitnesses  of  His  greatness  .  .  ."  "This  Voice 
we  heard  brought  from  heaven  .  .  ."  "These  things  we 
write  to  you  that  you  may  rejoice  and  your  joy  be  full." 

1  fimile  Male,  L'art  religieux  de  Xllle  siecle  en  France  (Paris,  Colin,  1908). 
1  Psalm  xc:13. 

207 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  prophets  and  patriarchs  at  Amiens'  portals  lack  the 
assurance  of  joy  which  shines  in  the  faces  of  the  humble 
men  chosen  for  the  hierarchy  of  the  New  Law;  the  earlier 
ones  had  not  themselves  seen  and  heard  and  touched. 

Never  was  the  meaning  of  the  Messiah's  coming  set  forth 
more  sublimely  than  in  this  archetype  cathedral.  The  soul 
of  the  Middle  Ages  had  brooded  over  the  Gospels  till  it  had 
pierced  to  their  spiritual  sense.  "The  house  of  the  Lord 
built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus 
Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner  stone  in  whom  all  the 
building  being  framed  together,  growing  up  into  an  holy 
temple  in  the  Lord."  1 

When  the  apostles  were  placed  at  the  cathedral  doors, 
the  tradition  was  to  have  St.  Peter  stand  to  the  right  of  his 
Master,  and  St.  Paul  to  the  left;  the  latter  was  substituted 
for  Matthias,  elected  to  Judas'  place.  St.  Peter,  tonsured, 
carried  the  key  and  a  cross;  his  beard  was  short  and  curly. 
St.  Paul  bore  a  sword,  since  his  Roman  citizenship  had  saved 
him  from  death  by  crucifixion;  he  was  represented  with  a 
bald  forehead  and  a  long  beard.  St.  Andrew  carried  the 
peculiar-shaped  cross  on  which  he  died;  St.  Bartholomew 
a  knife,  emblem  of  his  martyrdom. 

At  the  western  doors  of  Amiens  is  an  Annunciation  group 
in  which  the  Virgin  is  the  prototype  of  the  gentle  Ancilla 
Domini  at  Rheims.  The  St.  Elizabeth  of  the  Visitation 
group  is  a  noble  aged  woman;  the  St.  Simeon  of  the  Presen- 
tation has  been  called  the  Nunc  dimittis  in  person.  Local 
saints  are  in  a  position  of  honor  at  the  right-hand  door,  the 
chief  here  being  St.  Firman,  the  first  bishop  of  Amiens,  and 
the  pioneer  who  preached  the  Word  in  Picardy,  where  he 
was  martyred  in  289.  On  his  tomb  rose  the  first  cathedral 
of  the  city.  His  statue  at  the  trumeau  is  a  masterpiece  of 
its  period. 

In  his  Bible  of  Amiens,2  Ruskin  gives  enlightening  inter- 

1  Eph.  ii:20-21. 

2  John  Ruskin,  The  Bible  of  Amiens,  vol.  33,  Complete  Works  (London,  Cook  & 
Wedderburn,  1908).     Illustrated;   chap,  iv,  "Interpretations." 

208 


ERA  OF  THE   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

pretations  of  the  quatrefoils  adorning  the  wall  under  the  big 
images  at  the  western  entrance.  Little  genre  studies  of 
agricultural  life  typify  the  seasons,  and  the  vices  and  virtues 
are  rendered  with  movement  and  subtlety.  There  is  a 
connection  between  certain  of  the  small  bas-reliefs  and  the 
large  statues  standing  above  them. 

About  1288  they  carved  the  images  at  the  transept's  southern 
portal.  Fifty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  making  of  the 
western  entrance,  and  already  the  early  reverential  awe 
had  passed  away.  Our  Lady  is  now  shown  as  a  radiant 
young  matron  whose  smile  is  somewhat  mannered,  but  to 
call  the  charming  merge  doree  "the  soubrette  of  Picardy," 
as  did  Ruskin,  is  an  absurd  exaggeration.  The  apostles 
are  no  longer  of  the  ideal  type.  They  are  mediaeval  school- 
men, debating  some  point  of  dialectics. 

Each  century  was  to  add  to  the  sculpture  of  Amiens.  Andre 
Beauneveu,  an  illustrious  French-Flemish  master,  made  but- 
tress statues  of  Charles  V  and  his  sons,  realistic  portrait  work. 
The  king  was  one  of  the  four  Valois  brothers  who  were,  with 
the  Avignon  popes,  the  chief  art  patrons  of  the  XIV  century. 
As  Amiens  Cathedral  suffered  comparatively  little  during  the 
two  cataclysms  which  emptied  the  churches  of  France,  it  is 
still  a  museum  of  treasures.  When,  in  1562,  the  Huguenots, 
sword  in  hand,  rushed  into  the  church  to  shatter  the  altars, 
the  town's  tocsin  sounded  and  the  citizens  assembled  in  such 
numbers  that  they  saved  their  church.  Again,  during  the 
Revolution,  when  brutal  soldiery  began  to  mutilate  the  choir 
screen's  groups,  the  women  of  Amiens  who  lived  about  the 
cathedral  lustily  beat  the  vandals  with  chairs.  Of  course  the 
Revolution  set  up  here  the  usual  altar  with  its  living  Goddess 
of  Reason,  Marat's  bust  was  honored,  and  over  the  portal  was 
inscribed  the  grandiloquent  boast:  "Fanaticism  is  destroyed: 
Truth  triumphs." 

The  tombs,  bas-reliefs,  and  paintings  were  left  intact,  as 
well  as  the  famous  carved  stalls  finished  in  1522.  In  the 
choir-screen  sculpture  of  XVI-century  Gothic  the  Renaissance 
had  only  just  begun  to  appear.  St.  Firman's  mission  was  related 

209 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

quaintly — no  prudery  shown  in  the  scene  of  the  baptism  of 
Amiens'  first  Christians.  The  life  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  was 
set  .forth  because  crusaders  had  brought  his  relics  to  this 
church  from  Constantinople.  The  tourist  guide  enjoys  leading 
his  clients  behind  Amiens'  sanctuary  to  show  them  a  plump 
little  cupid  weeping  a  marble  tear  over  the  tomb  of  some  good 
canon  who  founded  a  local  orphanage.  M.  Durand  remarks 
that  for  one  who  appreciates  the  magnificent  bronze  tombs  of 
the  bishop-builders,  or  the  realistic  late-Gothic  groups  of  the 
choir  screen,  there  are  ten  who  are  moved  by  that  banal  little 
ange  pleurant. 

In  the  transept  are  some  marble  slabs  inscribed  with  the 
names  of  the  presidents  of  a  religious-literary  association  called 
Puy-Notre-Dame.  Such  Puys  (from  podium,  or  platform) 
were  poetic  contests  that  sprang  up  in  the  XIV  century,  with 
the  disappearance  of  the  wandering  minstrels,  and  they  led  in 
turn  to  a  real  literary  movement.1  At  Amiens  it  was  the  cus- 
tom each  year  for  a  new  picture  in  honor  of  Notre  Dame  to  be 
presented  to  her  church,  and  at  the  festival  a  poem  was  read 
in  her  praise.  Eventually  statues  were  substituted  for  pic- 
tures, which  explains  the  wealth  of  XVII-century  sculpture  in 
the  side  chapels  and  aisles  of  Amiens  Cathedral.  A  number 
of  the  ancient  paintings  have  been  placed  in  the  Museum  of 
the  city,  whose  walls  have  been  embellished  by  Puvis  de 
Chavannes'  Ave  Picardia  nutrix. 


1  Abbeville,  close  by,  also  had  its  Puy,  in  whose  competitions  figured  Froissart,  the 
historian,  as  laureate.  The  magnificent  portal  decorations  (1548)  of  the  Flamboyant 
Gothic  collegiate  church  of  St.  Wulfran  were  contributed  in  this  way. 

Emile  Deliguieres,  L'eglise  Saint-Vulfran  d  Abbeville  (Abbeville,  Paillart,  1898); 
Congrts  Archeologique,  1893. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Six   of   the   'Lesser    Great    Cathedrals:    Bourges,    Beauvais, 
Troyes,  Tours,  Lyons,  Le  Mans 

Every  work  of  art  truly  beautiful  and  sublime  throws  the  soul 
into  a  gracious  or  serious  reverie  that  lifts  it  toward  the  Infinite. 
Art  of  itself  is  essentially  moral  and  religious,  since  it  expresses 
everywhere  in  its  manifestation  the  eternal  beauty,  or  else  it  is 
false  to  its  own  law,  to  its  own  genius. 

— VICTOR  COUSIN,  Du  vrai,  du  beau,  et  du  bien. 

(CATTERED  over  France  are  a  number  of 
cathedrals  that  would  stand  in  the  first  rank  in 
any  other  land  but  one  in  which  were  such 
supreme  churches  as  Chartres,  Rheims,  and 
Amiens.  It  is  convenient  to  group  here  six  of 
these  lesser  Great  Cathedrals,  since  they  will  not  fall  properly 
within  the  coming  four  chapters,  which  deal  with  the  regional 
schools  of  Normandy,  Burgundy,  the  Midi,  and  Plantagenet 
Gothic. 

According  to  the  classification  used  by  M.  Lefevre-Pontalis, 
there  are  six  schools  of  Gothic  architecture  in  France.  Their 
differences  lie  in  secondary  characteristics  such  as  ground-plan, 
ramifications  of  ribs,  and  the  form  of  piers,  window  tracery, 
and  ornamentations.  Of  the  Ile-de-France  and  Champagne 
schools  we  have  already  gained  some  idea  in  tracing  the  first 
steps  of  the  national  art,  and  in  following  its  highest  develop- 
ment at  Paris,  Rheims,  and  Amiens.  Of  the  six  cathedrals 
here  grouped  that  of  Beauvais  belongs  to  the  Ile-de-France 
Picard  school  and  that  of  Troyes  to  the  Gothic  of  Champagne. 
But  the  four  others — Bourges,  Tours,  Lyons,  and  Le  Mans— 
show  the  influences  of  two  or  more  schools  and  therefore  fit 
more  reasonably  into  this  heterogeneous  chapter.  In  speaking 

of  Gothic  schools  it  is  well  to  recall  that  in  the  Flamboyant 

211 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

development  there  were  no  distinct  regional  groups.  A 
similar  Gothic  style  was  used  in  the  Midi  as  in  Normandy,  in 
Picardy  as  in  Burgundy. 

Though  not  of  the  greatest,  these  six  churches  are  splendid 
monuments.  With  hesitation  one  places  such  a  cathedral 
as  Bourges  in  a  secondary  group.  Had  Beauvais  and  Le 
Mans  been  completed  on  the  same  scale  as  their  grandiose 
choirs,  they  would  stand  with  the  foremost.  At  Troyes  are 
windows,  of  the  same  epochs  as  the  stones  framing  them, 
that  for  splendor  are  second  only  to  those  of  Chartres  and 
Bourges.  The  cathedral  of  Tours  is  the  personification  of 
the  equipoise  of  Touraine's  art,  and  its  storied  windows  are 
notable.  The  metropolitan  church  of  Lyons  possesses  a 
grave  individuality  of  the  most  singular  interest,  and  its 
windows,  too,  are  masterpieces. 

During  an  astonishing  century — roughly  speaking  from 
1170  to  1270 — France  built  about  eighty  Gothic  cathedrals, 
and  more  than  three  hundred  fine  churches.  And  the  miracle 
is  that  each  had  its  own  distinct  personality,  which  etches 
itself  clearly  on  the  traveler's  mind.  Such  was  the  super- 
abounding  joy  of  creation  in  the  golden  age  of  the  national 
art  that  no  two  churches  are  alike. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  BOURGES1 

One  goes  before  the  Lord's  altar,  one  bends  the  knee,  one  stays  there  in 
an  attitude  of  prostrate  humility,  and  perhaps,  in  it  all,  one  has  not  rendered 
to  God  a  single  homage.  Why?  Because  religion  does  not  consist  of  incli- 
nations of  the  body,  or  of  modesty  of  the  eyes,  but  of  humbleness  of  spirit, 
and  not  for  an  instant  has  the  spirit  been  one  with  those  demonstrations  of 
respect  and  adoration. 

One  visits  the  hospitals  and  prisons,  one  consoles  the  afflicted,  one  tends 
the  sick  and  helps  the  poor,  and  perhaps  the  very  one  who  displays  in  all 
this  the  most  assiduity  and  zeal  is  he  who  possesses  the  least  Christian 
mercy.  Why?  Because  he  is  carried  on  by  a  certain  natural  activity,  or  an 
entirely  human  pity  touches  him,  or  is  it  any  other  motive,  except  God, 
that  leads  him. — On  True  and  False  Piety,  BOURDALOUE  (1632-1704; 
born  in  Bourges). 

1  Congres  Archtologique,  1849  and  1898;  Arnddee  Boinet,  La  cathedrale  de  Bourgea 
(Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1911);  ibid.,  "Les  sculp- 
teurs  de  la  cathedrale  de  Bourges,"  in  Revue  de  I' art  chretien,  1912;  also  published 

212 


SOME   OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

The  cathedral  of  St.  fitienne  stands  on  a  slight  hill  in  the 
center  of  Bourges,  and  is  a  landmark  for  forty  miles  over 
the  Berry  plains  that  are  the  tranquil  heart  of  France.  The 
best  architectural  view  of  it  is  obtained  from  the  park  once 
attached  to  the  archbishop's  palace  and  said  to  have  been 
laid  out  by  Le  Ndtre,  master  of  this  type  of  cold  distinction 
which  is  so  eminently  French.  As  the  entire  south  flank  of 
the  church  is  exposed  to  view  there,  the  absence  of  a  transept 
is  what  first  strikes  the  attention.  Bourges  is  the  only  XIII- 
century  cathedral  without  the  extended  arms  of  the  cross. 
Had  it  a  transept  it  might  appear  short,  whereas  now  its  four 
hundred  feet  of  length  make  the  most  imposing  effect. 

Bourges,  Paris,  Troyes,  and  Clermont  are  the  only  cathe- 
drals with  double  aisles  about  choir  and  nave.  Bourges  is 
exceptional  in  that  the  inner  aisle  is  twice  as  high  as  the  outer — 
so  high  that  it  possesses  its  own  triforium  and  clearstory; 
so  high  that  the  pier  arches  around  the  middle  church  rise  to 
more  than  half  the  height  of  the  edifice.  Indeed,  many  an 
English  cathedral  could  stand  under  the  pier  arches  of  Bourges. 
Each  pillar  is  encircled  by  eight  shafts — an  arrangement 
that  accentuates  its  loftiness.  It  may  be  claimed  that  there 
is  over-emphasis  in  a  procession  of  such  giant  columns  about 
the  interior  of  a  church,  and  that  there  is  something  spec- 
tacular in  a  colonnade  of  such  stupendous  arches.  Certainly 

by  Champion  (Paris,  1912);  Gaston  Congny,  Bourges  et  Nevers;  Buhot  de  Kersers, 
"Les  chapelles  absidioles  de  la  cathedrale  de  Bourges,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental, 
vol.  40,  p.  417;  ibid.,  Histoire  et  statistique  monumentale  du  departement  du  Cher 
(Bourges,  1875-98),  8  vols.,  4to;  Girardot  et  Durant,  La  cathedrale  de  Bourges 
(Moulins,  1849);  G.  Hardy  et  A.  Gandillon,  Bourges  et  les  abbayes  et  chateaux  de 
Berry  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1912);  Cahier  et  Martin 
(P.  P.).  Monographic  de  la  cathedrale  de  Bourges;  vitraux  du  XIIIe  siecle;  Des  Meloizes, 
Les  vitraux  de  Bourges  posterieurs  au  XIII"  siecle  (Lille,  1897),  folio;  ibid.,  Les  vitraux 
de  Bourges,  1901;  ibid.,  "Note  sur  un  tres  ancien  vitrail  de  la  cathedrale  de  Bourges," 
in  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  des  Antiquaires  du  Centre,  1873,  vol.  4,  p.  193;  Champeaux  et 
Gauchery,  Les  travaux  d'art  executes  pour  Jean  de  France,  due  de  Berry  (Paris,  Cham- 
pion, 1894),  folio;  Buhot  de  Kersers,  "Caracteres  de  ^'architecture  religieuse  en 
Berry  a  1'epoque  romane,"  in  Bui.  archeol.  du  Comite  des  Travaux  hist,  et  scicntifiques, 
1890,  p.  25;  F.  Deshoulieres,  "Les  eglises  romanes  du  Berry,"  in  Bulletin  Monu- 
mental, 1909,  p.  463;  Raynal,  Histoire  de  Berry;  Vacher,  Le  Berry  (Collection,  Les 
regions  de  la  France),  (Paris,  L.  Cerf);  Sauvageot,  Palais,  chateaux,  hotels  ct  maisons 
de  France;  Sir  Theodore  Andreas  Cook,  Twenty-five  Great  Houses  of  France  (London 
and  New  York,  1916). 

213 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  main  clearstory  is  dwarfed  by  comparison,  and  the  con- 
trast in  height  between  inner  and  outer  aisle  is  too  violent. 
Bourges  must  pass  as  a  superb  experiment  rather  than  the 
restrained  achievement  from  which  emanates  a  school.  Sub- 
sequent architects  preferred  to  take  as  model  the  more  classic 
division  of  Amiens'  interior  wall  elevation. 

None  the  less  is  this  most  original  basilica  magnificently 
and  romantically  beautiful.  Upon  entering  the  church  for 
the  first  time  one  feels  the  gripping  sensation  of  beholding  a 
thing  audacious  and  gigantic.  And  yet  the  impression  con- 
veyed is  not  that  of  overweening  pride.  There  is  reverence 
here.  Bishop  Durandus  tells  us  that  the  piers  of  a  church 
are  the  bishops  and  doctors  who  sustain  the  temple  of  God 
by  their  doctrines,  that  the  length  of  a  church  representeth 
fortitude  which  patiently  endureth  till  it  attain  heaven;  its 
breadth,  charity;  its  height,  courage  that  despiseth  pros- 
perity and  adversity,  hoping  to  see  the  gladness  of  the  Lord 
in  the  land  of  the  living.  The  windows  are  hospitality  with 
cheerfulness,  and  tenderness  with  charity.  They  are  Holy 
Scriptures  which  expel  the  wind  and  the  rain — that  is,  all 
things  hurtful — but  transmit  the  light  of  the  true  Sun — that 
is,  God — into  the  hearts  of  the  faithful.1  So  wrote  the  wise  old 
XIH-century  Midi  bishop  for  whom  the  whole  world  and 
everything  in  it  were  symbols. 

Sound  doctrine,  fortitude,  and  warm  protecting  hospitality — 
such  are  qualities  supremely  understood  of  Bourges.  There 
is  awe  in  this  church  and  there  is  magic.  Of  the  boundless 
imagination  of  dreams  are  certain  sunset  aspects  here,  when 
from  the  wide  western  window  of  Jean  de  Berry  gleams  of 
light  strike  athwart  these  vast  arches  of  wonderland,  across 
these  sixty  big  pillars  of  stone,  and  night-time  hours — during 
the  May  evening  services  of  Our  Lady — when  the  great  church 
as  in  fearsome  meditation  is  shrouded  in  shadow. 

Some  four  or  five  cathedrals  have  stood,  in  turn,  on  the 
same  site  which  was  close  by  the  Gallo-Roman  city  walls. 

1  Rationale  Divinorum  officiorum,  tr.  by  Neale  and  Webb  of  the  Camden  Society 
(Leeds,  Green,  1843). 

214 


The  Apse  of  Bourgea  (1100-1225) 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

For  the  early  Christians  were  despised  as  pariahs,  and  allowed 
to  build  only  on  the  outskirts  of  cities,  until  the  edict  of 
Constantine  permitted  them  to  exercise  their  religion  with 
honor.  All  over  France  churches  are  to  be  found  abutting 
on  the  ancient  ramparts  of  towns.  Of  the  early  cathedrals 
of  Bourges  only  the  core  of  the  present  crypt  remains.  From 
the  Romanesque  edifice  immediately  preceding  the  present 
cathedral  come  its  XH-century  side  portals. 

There  are  strong  analogies  between  the  ground-plan  of 
St.  Etienne  of  Bourges  and  that  of  Notre  Dame  of  Paris, 
especially  if  one  recalls  that  the  cathedral  of  Paris,  as  first 
designed,  possessed  no  transept.  Probably  the  plans  of  both 
were  made  at  the  same  time,  but  the  work  in  the  capital  of 
the  royal  demesne  started  immediately  in  1163;  hence  it 
retained  the  galleries  over  the  side  aisles — a  Romanesque 
tradition — whereas,  at  Bourges  the  actual  building  began 
only  in  the  last  decade  of  the  XII  century,  when  such  tribunes 
were  passing  out  of  vogue.  Bourges  thereupon  undertook  to 
modify  its  first  design,  and  it  tried  the  startling  experiment 
of  making  an  inner  aisle  whose  height  comprised  both  aisle 
and  tribune. 

The  crypt  of  Bourges,1  one  of  the  most  spacious  in  France, 
was  begun  by  Archbishop  Henri  de  Sully  (1184-99),  brother 
of  Bishop  Eudes  who  helped  build  the  west  facade  of  Paris 
Cathedral.  When  Henri  died,  the  decision  was  left  to  his 
brother  in  Paris,  as  to  which  of  three  Cistercian  abbots  should 
be  the  succeeding  archbishop  in  Bourges.  The  nomination 
fell  to  St.  Guillaume  Berruyer  (1199-1208)  of  the  house  of 
Nevers,  whose  counts  had  built  the  admirable  Romanesque 
St.  Etienne  in  that  city.  Guillaume  had  watched  both  Paris 
and  Soissons'  cathedrals  rising;  he  had  been  a  monk  in 
Pontigny,  whose  church  was  the  earliest  Gothic  venture  in 
Burgundy,  and  he  was  abbot  of  Chaalis,  where  the  church 
also  was  Primary  Gothic.  This  holy  Cistercian  was  loath 


1  Rodin  should  have  placed  his  "Thinker"  here:  "Le  Penseur  aurait  etc  au  diapason 
dans  cette  crypt;   cette  ombre  immense  1'aurait  fortifie!" 

— RODIN,  Les  cathedrales  de  France. 
215 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

to  leave  his  cloister,  and  always  wore  his  white  robe  and 
fasted  like  a  genuine  son  of  St.  Bernard.  In  his  face  shone 
his  purity  of  soul,  and  it  is  said  that  his  manner  was  merry. 

Only  a  saint  could  have  made  the  ambulatory  of  Bourges, 
a  place  apart  from  the  world's  fret,  fashioned  for  meditative 
prayer,  its  walls  hung  with  gospel  parables  of  mosaic  glass. 
It  is  thought  that  while  the  new  Gothic  choir  was  building, 
services  were  held  in  the  Romanesque  cathedral,  which  may 
have  been  partly  open  to  the  elements,  since  St.  Guillaume 
caught  a  chill  in  it  while  preaching,  from  the  effects  of  which 
he  died  in  1208.  Ten  years  later,  the  first  ceremony  held  in 
the  completed  choir  was  for  his  canonization;  without  the 
usual  process  of  investigation  the  pope  declared  him  a  saint. 

From  1236  to  1260,  a  nephew  of  St.  William's,  Blessed 
Philippe  Berruyer,  was  archbishop  of  Bourges  and  carried 
forward  the  nave;  and  the  saint's  great-niece,  the  Countess 
Matilda  of  Nevers,  contributed  generously.  Bourges  com- 
memorated her  saintly  bishops  in  the  clearstory  of  her  inner 
aisle.  The  window  wherein  St.  Guillaume  is  pictured  shows 
his  niece  as  the  donor. 

Never  was  monument  set  on  a  more  majestic  base  than 
the  choir  end  of  Bourges.  There  the  crypt  stands  above  the 
ground,  owing  to  the  slope  of  the  land.  The  chevet  of  St. 
Etienne  is  incomparable.  In  every  part  of  the  edifice  good 
mason  work  was  done,  save  in  the  upper  vaults,  where  the 
necessity  of  economy  led  to  skimping.  It  is  apparent  that, 
as  the  eastern  curve  of  the  cathedral  was  rising,  the  architect 
modified  his  plan.  In  his  apse  walls  he  inserted  small  chapels, 
each  standing  on  two  columns  and  an  engaged  shaft  and 
each  roofed  by  a  stone  pyramid.  Not  only  does  the  circlet  of 
little  shrines  add  to  the  beauty  of  the  chevet,  but  each  chapel 
serves  the  practical  purpose  of  a  buttress.  That  they  were 
afterthoughts  is  proved  by  the  ambulatory  windows  not  being 
set  symmetrically  over  the  crypt  windows.  However,  the 
chapels  must  have  been  added  during  the  building  of  the 
procession  path,  because  the  latter's  vaulting  shows  no  sign 
of  reconstruction. 

216 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

The  cathedral  of  Bourges  is  not  well  documented.  Only  by 
a  study  of  the  stones  themselves  can  it  be  dated.  Its  eastern 
end  was  building  during  the  first  part  of  the  XIII  century; 
in  1266  the  chapter  contributed  toward  the  works,  their 
donations  being  used  probably  for  the  completion  of  the  nave. 
At  the  end  of  the  XIII  century  porches  were  added  to  the 
side  doors  retained  from  the  Romanesque  cathedral.  Work 
continued  on  the  west  fagade  during  the  early  part  of  the 
XIV  century,  but  when,  in  1324,  St.  Etienne  was  dedicated, 
it  had  been  completed  in  its  main  parts  for  forty  years. 

This  makes  the  west  front  of  Bourges  about  a  century 
younger  than  its  apse.  The  five  deeply  recessed  portals 
correspond  to  its  five  aisles,  and  the  western  towers  are  set 
clear  of  the  aisles,  as  at  Rouen;  that  to  the  southwest  is  now 
braced  by  a  flying  buttress  and  detached  buttress  pile.  In 
1506  the  northwest  tower  collapsed.  It  was  rebuilt  by  alms, 
given  as  thank-offering  for  the  privilege  of  eating  butter 
during  Lent,  hence  its  name  Tour  de  Beurre.  Such  butter 
towers  may  be  called  the  XVI  century's  method  of  charity 
bazaar  to  raise  money  for  church  repairs.  During  the  heyday 
of  Gothic,  the  fervent  layman  gave  voluntarily,  asking  for 
no  return,  and  in  that  spirit  rose  the  docker  vieux  at  Chartres. 
Compare  that  sublime  monument  with  the  elegant,  mundane 
late-Gothic  "  butter  towers "  of  France,  and  you  comprehend 
how  inevitably  the  spirit  of  builders  reveals  itself  in  the  work 
of  their  hands. 

Of  the  five  western  doors  of  Bourges,  only  the  central  one 
is  wholly  of  the  XIII  century  (c.  1260-75).  Its  representa- 
tion of  the  Last  Judgment,  adjudged  to  be  the  best  ever  set 
up  at  a  cathedral  door,  the  Dies  Irce  warning  in  stone,  is 
derived  from  Job,  St.  Paul,  St.  Matthew,  and  the  Apocalypse. 
In  the  upper  zone  Christ  is  enthroned;  in  the  lower  is  shown 
the  arising  of  the  dead  from  their  tombs.  Between  these 
scenes  is  the  splendid  panel  of  the  Judgment,  with  the  stately 
archangel  as  its  central  figure,  holding  the  scales  of  justice. 
To  his  left  malign  demons  seize  on  the  damned  to  plunge 
them  into  the  jaws  of  the  Leviathan  described  in  Job.  To 

217 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

• 

his  right  the  blessed  ones  smile  with  complacency  as  they 
move  toward  Paradise,  here  represented  by  a  hieroglyphic — 
supposed  to  be  Abraham's  bosom,  out  of  which  peep  some 
little  souls  smuggled  safely  away.1  St.  Peter  stands  at  the 
gates  of  Paradise,  holding  the  keys,  a  doctrinal  symbol  of  his 
power  to  bind  and  to  loose,  until  in  time  popular  fancy 
pictured  him  as  the  actual  gatekeeper  of  heaven.  Among  the 
elect  is  represented  a  king  holding  the  flower  of  sanctity, 
probably  meant  for  St.  Louis.  Beside  the  king  is  a  cord- 
girdled  monk — hence  the  name  "cordeliers"  for  Franciscans — 
showing  how  popular  was  the  new  Order. 

The  fall  of  the  north  tower  caused  the  ruin  of  the  portals 
near  it,  and  when  rebuilt  in  the  XVI  century  an  iconographic 
error  was  made  which  would  have  been  impossible  with  the 
trained  scholastics  of  an  earlier  day — the  mother  of  the  Saviour 
was  placed  on  his  left,  instead  of  in  the  seat  of  honor  on  his 
right.  In  the  fatal  year  1562,  when  from  end  to  end  of  France 
the  churches  were  mutilated,  the  Calvinists  attacked  the 
portal  images  of  Bourges  and  flung  the  carven  stones  into  the 
breaches  of  the  town  walls.  They  went  so  far  as  to  mine  the 
giant  piers  in  order  that  the  great  edifice  might  totter  to  its 
fall;  but  happily  their  control  of  the  city  was  cut  short,  or  the 
tragedy  of  Orleans  might  have  been  enacted.2 

1  "  There  is  a  charming  detail  in  this  section.     Beside  the  angel,  on  the  left,  where 
the  wicked  are  the  prey  of  demons,  stands  a  little  female  figure,  that  of  a  child,  who, 
with  hands  meekly  folded  and  head  gently  raised,  waits  for  the  stern  angel  to  decide 
upon  her  fate.     In  this  fate,  however,  a  dreadful  big  devil  also  takes  a  keen  interest; 
he  seems  on  the  point  of  appropriating  the  tender  creature;  he  has  a  face  like  a  goat 
and  an  enormous  hooked  nose.     But  the  angel  gently  lays  a  hand  upon  the  shoulder 
of  the  little  girl — the  movement  is  full  of  dignity — as  if  to  say,  'No;   she  belongs  to 
the  other  side.'     The  frieze  below  represents  the  general  Resurrection,  with  the  good 
and  the  wicked  emerging  from  their  sepulchers.     Nothing  can  be  more  quaint  and 
charming  than  the  difference  shown  in  their  way  of  responding  to  the  final  trump. 
The  good  get  out  of  their  tombs  with  a  certain  modest  gayety,  an  alacrity  tempered 
by  respect;   one  of  them  kneels  to  pray  as  soon  as  he  has  disinterred  himself.     You 
may  know  the  wicked,  on  the  other  hand,  by  their  extreme  shyness;   they  crawl  out 
slowly  and  fearfully;    they  hang  back." — HENRY  JAMES,  A  Little  Tour  in  France 
(Boston,  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1900),  p.  105. 

2  The  chief  piers  of  Orleans  Cathedral  were  mined  by  Theodore  de  Beze  and  blown 
up  on  the  night  of  March  23,  1567.     The  portal,  part  of  the  choir,  and  the  apse  chapel 
escaped.     The  XH-century  nave  had  double  aisles  with  tribunes;    the  frontispiece 
also  was  XII  century.     The  choir,  begun  in  1287,  was  finished  by  1297,  and  a  new 

218 


SOME  OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT   CATHEDRALS 

Bourges  is  a  chosen  spot  for  stained  glass,  second  only  to 
Chartres.  Students  have  made  the  study  of  its  windows  a 
lifetime  enthusiasm.  Nowhere  can  the  epochs  of  the  vitrine 
art  from  the  XII  to  the  XVII  century  be  more  easily  studied. 
The  school  of  St.  Denis,  however,  is  not  represented.  Two 
small  panels,  now  set  in  a  window  beside  the  south  portal, 
are  earlier  in  date  than  Suger's  windows;  their  flesh  tone 
is  purplish;  perhaps  they  are  the  oldest  colored  glass  extant 
in  France. 

Of  the  XIH-century  school  of  Chartres  are  the  twenty 
and  more  lancets  in  the  ambulatory,  legend-medallion  windows 
ranking  with  the  best  ever  made.  They  repeat  some  of  the 
themes  used  by  the  artists  at  Chartres,  such  as  the  parables 
of  the  Prodigal  Son,  presented  by  the  tanners,  and  of  the 
Good  Samaritan,  which  latter  lancet  at  Bourges  is  an  excep- 
tion in  having  its  story  begin  at  the  top.  Ancient  windows 
are  to  be  read  usually  from  the  bottom  upward.  The  first 
window  in  the  choir  aisle,  as  you  enter  it  from  the  north, 
shows  the  beggar  Lazarus  despised  and  suffering  on  earth, 
then  carried  by  angels  to  Abraham's  bosom,  wherein  (in  the 
topmost  medallion)  he  sits  cozily  ensconsed,  but  Dives,  the 
bad  rich  man,  is  snatched  by  demons  from  his  earthly  scenes 
of  plenty  and  thrust  into  hell.  The  lancet  which,  at  Bourges, 
is  devoted  to  the  Apocalypse,  is  held  to  be  a  subtle  com- 
mentary on  the  vision  of  Patmos.  To  the  fifth  large  window 
of  the  ambulatory,  called  the  New  Alliance,  the  Jesuit  fathers, 
Cahier  and  Martin,  have  devoted  over  a  hundred  pages — a 
veritable  treatise  on  symbolism — in  their  monumental  study 
of  the  earlier  stained  glass  in  this  church.  "Prophecies  in 
action,"  our  friend  Joinville  called  the  prefiguring  of  the  New 
Law  by  the  Old,  so  popular  during  the  Middle  Ages.  New 


Gothic  nave  was  in  progress  at  the  time  of  the  civil  wars  of  religion.  Henry  IV  under- 
took to  rebuild  Orleans  Cathedral,  and  with  his  bride,  Marie  de  Medici,  laid  the  first 
stone  in  1601.  But  a  bastard-Gothic  edifice  is  not  compensation  for  earlier  work. 
H.  Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artistique  et  monumentale,  vol.  C,  p.  122,  "Orleans,"  G. 
Lefenestre;  Congres  Archeologiqite,  1854  and  1892;  G.  Rigault,  Orleans  et  le  val  de 
Ijoire  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  II.  Laurens);  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis  et 
Eugene  Garry,  on  Orleans  Cathedral,  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1904,  vol.  68,  p.  309. 

219 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Alliance  windows  are  to  be  found  in  various  cathedrals— 
their  theme  being  the  substitution  of  Gentiles  for  Jews  by 
the  merit  of  the  Cross.1  The  guild  of  butchers  was  the  donor 
of  this  abstract  doctrinal  window  of  Bourges. 

The  only  break  in  the  XIH-century  glass  of  the  choir  aisle 
is  in  the  axis  chapel,  where  the  windows — of  the  XVI-century 
Renaissance — belonged  originally  to  the  Sainte-Chapelle  of 
the  ducal  palace  that  once  existed  in  Bourges;  other  windows 
from  the  same  source  have  been  reset  in  the  cathedral's  crypt. 
The  small  scenes  at  the  base  of  each  lancet — the  signatures 
as  they  are  called — show  that  here,  as  at  Chartres,  the  larger 
number  of  these  priceless  treasures  of  art  were  donated  by 
the  little  people  of  the  Lord — carpenters,  weavers,  coopers, 
money  changers.  A  window  given  by  the  stonecutters,  in 
the  choir  aisle  of  Bourges,  is  devoted  to  St.  Thomas,  the  apostle, 
patron  of  builders.  Bourges  and  Chartres  afford  the  best 
opportunity  for  a  more  intimate  study  of  the  legends  and 
symbols  then  most  popular.  Here,  as  at  Chartres,  the  Golden 
Legend  should  be  one's  inseparable  companion. 

In  the  high  windows  of  the  middle  choir  the  apostles  are 
ranged  on  one  side  of  Sancta  Maria,  and  the  prophets  on  the 
other — another  of  the  many  contrasts  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  The  nave's  clearstory  is  chiefly  XIH-century 
grisaille.  The  XlV-century  artists,  in  their  desire  for  more 
light,  gave  up  the  profound  colors  of  their  mosaic-like  windows 
for  that  coldly  elegant  phase  of  the  vitrine  art,  when  the  use  of 
white  was  carried  to  excess  and  each  figure  set  in  its  own  panel 
was  pictured  like  a  statue  with  architectural  niche  and  dais. 

About  1370  Duke  Jean  of  Berry,  born  connoisseur  like  his 
brothers  Charles  V,  Philippe  of  Burgundy,  and  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  presented  to  Bourges  Cathedral  its  immense  western 
window.  Before  the  Medici,  this  Valois  prince  collected 
cameos  and  medals  and  bric-a-brac.  Among  the  twenty 


1  Nouvelle  Alliance  windows  are  to  be  found  at  Chartres  (sixth  window  in  the  nave's 
north  aisle),  at  Le  Mans  (the  east  window  of  the  long  Lady  chapel),  at  Tours  (in  the 
axis  chapel),  in  the  transept  of  Sens  Cathedral  (in  five  lights  below  the  north  rose), 
and  in  the  apse  curve  of  Lyons  Cathedral. 

220 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

castles  he  built  were  those  "of  Poitiers,  Riom,  and  Bourges, 
on  which  were  employed  the  noted  Flamboyant  Gothic  archi- 
tects, the  Dammartin  brothers.  When  the  Sainte-Chapelle 
of  the  palace  in  Bourges  was  destroyed  (1759),  the  duke's  tomb, 
which  his  nephew  Charles  VI  had  ordered  of  Jean  de  Cambrai 
(1477-83),  was  brought  to  the  cathedral.  The  sarcophagus  was 
once  surrounded  by  alabaster  statuettes,  some  of  which  are 
in  the  Museum.  The  arrangement  of  mourners  came  from 
his  brother's  world-famous  tomb  in  Dijon.  In  his  old  age  the 
spendthrift,  unstable  Jean  de  Berry  married  the  very  youth- 
ful Jeanne  de  Boulogne,  and  kneeling  images  of  both  duke 
and  duchess  have  been  placed  on  either  side  of  the  entrance 
to  the  axis  chapel  of  the  cathedral.  Apparently  art-loving 
John  of  France  was  in  person  the  homeliest  of  men.  The 
Revolution  damaged  these  images,  which  •  were  restored  by 
means  of  drawings  made  of  them  by  Holbein  in  the  time  when 
Bourges  was  a  Mecca  for  the  artists  of  Europe.  Some  of 
Duke  Jean's  friends  presented  early  XV-century  windows  to 
the  side  chapels  of  Bourges  Cathedral.  His  physician,  Aligret, 
gave  one. 

The  Hundred  Years'  War  put  a  stop  to  the  accumulation 
of  art  treasures  in  the  metropolitan  church.  When  Charles 
VII,  "the  little  king  of  Bourges,"  as  the  English  had  dubbed 
him  ironically,  went  with  the  victorious  Maid  of  Orleans  to 
be  crowned  king  at  Rheims,  his  gentle  queen,  Marie  of  Anjou, 
stayed  in  Bourges  with  her  mother,  Yolande  of  Aragon. 
Marie's  brother,  then  a  youth  under  Jeanne's  command,  was 
to  become  the  good  King  Rene  of  history.  To  Bourges  Jeanne 
herself  came  later.  She  lodged  with  an  estimable  widow  of 
the  town  who,  years  afterward,  during  the  inquest  conducted 
for  the  Maid's  rehabilitation,  bore  testimony  to  the  young 
girl's  simple  goodness.  She  told  how  gallantly  Jeanne  mounted 
a  horse  and  how  adroitly  she  managed  a  lance  so  that  "every- 
one was  in  admiration  of  her,  for  no  knight  could  have  done 
better."1 

1  The  happy  chance  of  travel  led  the  writer,  in  May  of  1914,  to  the  ceremony  of  the 
unveiling  of  a  statue  of  Jeanne  d'Arc  in  the  cathedral  of  this  city,  that  has  not  known 

221 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Then  when  "Jehamie  la  bonne  Lorraine,"  as  Villon  called 
her,  had  given  France  a  new  soul,  when  the  blight  of  the 
Great  Schism  of  the  West  was  over,  and  France  accepted  the 
same  spiritual  chief  as  the  remainder  of  Europe,  there  came 
about  the  energetic,  happy,  restless  manifestation  of  art 
which  we  call  Flamboyant  Gothic.  Bourges  then  possessed 
a  Maecenas  in  the  person  of  a  merchant  (son  of  a  tradesman 
of  the  city)  whose  ships  covered  the  sea.  Jacques  Coeur, 
from  1443  to  1452,  built  himself,  in  his  native  town,  the  finest 
burgher's  house  in  France,  to  see  which  Rene  of  Anjou— 
great-nephew  of  Jean  of  Berry — came  especially  to  Bourges. 
Its  walls  were  carved  with  quaint  devices  and  images,1  and, 
like  Van  Eyck's,  were  the  charming  little  angels  painted  on 
its  chapel  vaults.  No  civic  monument  in  the  land  excels  it; 
it  ranks  as  the  best  with  Rouen's  Palais  de  Justice  and  the 
Hotel  Cluny  at  Paris. 

The  same  merchant-prince  built  in  Bourges  Cathedral  a 
private  chapel  for  his  family,  and  beside  it  a  rich  Flamboyant 
Gothic  sacristy.  The  Annunciation  window  in  the  chapel 
(1450)  is  held  to  be  the  best  glass  of  its  century,  uniting  the 
better  drawing  of  the  later  day  with  a  plain,  firm,  general 
design.  The  face  of  the  Angel  Gabriel  has  been  said  to  be 
a  portrait  of  Jacques  Coeur.  St.  James  is  represented  in  pil- 
grim garb  because  of  the  fame  of  his  shrine  at  Santiago  Com- 
postela.  It  is  thought  that  Jacques  Cceur  donated  the  row 
of  richly  damasked  windows  in  the  west  fagade  beneath  Jean 
of  Berry's  big  sheet  of  glass,  made  fifty  years  earlier.  Colors 
have  become  richer  and  the  figures  show  a  tendency  to  escape 


invasion — the  military  arsenal  of  France.  As  the  preaching  bishop  exhorted  modern 
France  to  remake  her  soul  else  she  would  perish,  over  that  spellbound  congregation 
seemed  to  pass  a  premonition  of  portentous  events  looming  ahead.  Within  three 
months  the  World  War  opened,  forte  et  aspre  guerre,  as  they  said  in  Jeanne's  day, 
war  the  chastiser,  war  the  purifier:  " II  y  a  des  guerres  qui  avilissent  les  nations,  et  les 
avilissent  pour  des  siecles;  d'autres  les  exaltent,  les  perfectionnent  de  toutes  manieres," 
wrote  Joseph  de  Maistre. 

1  Carved  on  Jacques  Coeur's  house  in  Bourges  are  mottoes  such  as,  "A  vaillans 
cceurs  rien  impossible,"  or  "Dire,  faire,  taire,  de  ma  joie,"  or  "En  bouche  dose, 
n'entre  mousche."  Vallet  de  Viriville,  Jacques  Cceur;  Pierre  Clement,  Jacques  Cceur 
et  Charles  VII. 

222 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

from  the  rigid  attitude  of  statues,  but  not  yet  has  absolute 
congruity  between  the  hues  been  achieved. 

Jacques  Coeur  was  not  to  be  buried  in  the  chapel  he  had 
prepared.  He  served  the  same  master  who  had  let  the  Maid 
of  Orleans  perish  at  Rouen  without  striking  a  blow  to  save 
her.  With  money  provided  by  the  merchant-banker  of 
Bourges,  Charles  VII  had  reconquered  Normandy,  but  he 
let  the  estate  of  his  faithful  servant  be  rapaciously  confiscated 
without  a  trial,  and  left  him  to  languish  in  prison  for  two 
years  before  being  banished  from  the  kingdom  by  the  mockery 
of  a  law  process.  Jacques  Cceur  died  in  exile  in  1461,  but  his 
good  name  was  exonerated,  and  his  son  Jean,  archbishop  of 
Bourges,  was  buried  in  the  cathedral's  choir.  The  merchant- 
prince's  chapel  passed  with  his  mansion  into  the  hands  of 
the  Laubespine  family,  whose  kneeling  statues  now  adorn  it. 

With  the  XVI  century  there  opened  another  golden  period 
of  the  vitrine  art  in  Bourges.  A  local  master,  Jean  Lecuyer, 
won  fame.  He  made  the  Tullier  window  (1532)  in  the  tenth 
bay  (south)  of  the  cathedral.  The  donor,  Canon  Tullier,  and 
his  father,  mother,  and  various  ecclesiastic  relatives,  are  being 
presented  by  their  patron  saints  to  a  distinguished-looking 
Madonna.  The  architectural  background  shows  what  head- 
way the  foreign  Renaissance  had  made  in  France,  though  the 
chief  figures  are  still  true  to  French  traditions.  The  colors  are 
faultlessly  balanced  and  certain  exquisite  half-tones  are 
noticeable.  In  the  upper  panels,  in  a  fair  blue  sky,  are  en- 
trancing little  angels  giving  a  celestial  concert,  fiddling, 
beating  a  drum,  singing  with  all  their  hearts,  for  this  is  the 
shrine  built  by  St.  William,  who  knew  how  to  be  holy  and 
merry  as  well. 

The  Tullier  light  has  been  called  the  loveliest  of  XVI- 
century  windows.  And  yet  no  one  can  deny  that  enamel 
painting  on  glass  was  a  deterioration  of  the  art.  The  old 
masters  had  followed  a  sounder  tradition  when  they  sub- 
ordinated their  windows  to  their  architecture,  making  them 
an  integral  part  of  it,  and  not  merely  isolated  painted  pictures. 
Jean  Lecuyer  also  composed  the  window  (1518)  relating  the 

223 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

lives  of  St.  Stephen  and  St.  Laurence  in  the  cathedral's  nave 
(south  side),  and  several  brilliant  lights  in  St.  Bonnat's  church. 
Even  the  XVII  century  produced  interesting  work  at  Bourges; 
in  the  Martigny  chapel  of  the  cathedral  (north  side  of  nave) 
the  portrait  of  the  donor  is  as  realistic  as  a  miniature. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  BEAUVAIS  * 

C'est  alors  que  se  constitue  cette  merveilleuse  discipline,  vrai  fondement 
de  la  culture  intellectuelle  et  de  la  science,  qu'est  la  discipline  scholastique. 
.  .  .  Toute  la  connaissance  est  tourn^e  vers  la  science  de  I'e'tre,  vers  la 
m6taphysique,  plus  haut  encore  vers  la  th6ologie;  plus  haul  encore,  vers 
th6ologie  v£cue,  vers  la  contemplation. — JACQUES  MARITAIN. 

The  cathedral  of  Beauvais  derived  directly  from  Amiens, 
and  no  expression  of  the  Gothic  principle  was  ever  carried 
farther.  It  consists  of  a  mammoth  choir  and  transept.  As 
the  height  of  the  edifice  is  three  times  its  width,  the  nave 
which  now  is  lacking  would  need  to  have  been  of  enormous 
length.  Instead  of  that  much-needed  nave,  there  nestles 
under  the  truncated  west  end  a  modest  little  Carolingian 
edifice  called  the  Basse-(Euvre,  built  by  the  fortieth  bishop  of 
Beauvais,  Herve  (987-998).  The  small  cubic  stones  and 
occasional  courses  of  brick  tell  of  the  antiquity  of  this,  the 
best-preserved  monument  in  France,  dating  before  the  year 
1000. 2  Most  of  the  Romanesque  churches  of  the  Oise  copied 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1905,  "Beauvais,"  Chanoine  Barsaux;   P.  Dubois,  La  cathe- 
drale  de  Beauvais  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1911);  Abbe 
P.  C.  Barraud,  "Beauvais  et  ses  monuments,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  vol.  27,  passim. 
He  gives  studies  on  the  Le  Prince  and  other  windows  in  the  cathedral  and  St.  Etienne, 
in  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  Academique  de  VOise,  1851-53,  vol.  1,  p.  225;    vol.  2,  p.  537; 
vol.  3,  pp.  150,  277;   Louise  Pillion,  on  St.  Etienne's  glass,  in  Revue  de  Vart  chretien, 
1910,  p.  367;  Eug.  J.  Woillez,  Archeologie  des  monuments  religieux  de  Vancien  Beauvoisis 
pendant  la  metamorphose  romane  (Paris,  1839-49),  folio;   Graves,  Notice  archeologique 
sur   le  department    de    I' Oise  (Beauvais,  1856);    Gustave  Desgardins,  Histoire  de  la 
cathedrale  de  Beauvais  (1875);   Abbe  L.  Pihan,  Beauvais,  sa  cathedrale,  ses  monuments 
(1905);    ibid.,  Esquisse  descriptive  des  monuments  historiques  dans  VOise;    see  Gonse 
and  Palustre  on  the  portals  of  the  cathedral;    Monseigneur  Barbier  de  Montault, 
"  Iconographie  des  Sibylles,"  in  Rev.  de  Vart  ckretiens,  1874. 

2  Carolingian  work  aboveground  is  rare;    besides  this   Basse-CEuvre    at   Beauvais, 
there  is  St.  Philibert  de  Grandlieu  (Loire-Inferieure),  part  of  the  small  church  under 
the  flank  of  Jumieges'  ruined  abbatial,  portions  of  St.  Jouin-de-Marnes  (Deux-Sevres), 
and  vestiges  in  the  walls  of  La  Couture  at  Le  Mans.     There  are  Carolingian  crypts 
at  St.  Quentin,  Amiens,  Chartres,  Orleans,  Auxerre,  Flavigny.     More  exceptional 

224 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

it.  Scarcely,  however,  had  the  Ile-de-France  Picard  Roman- 
esque school  developed  than  the  privileged  region  gave  birth 
to  the  national  art. 

In  1227  Beauvais  planned  a  new  cathedral,  spurred  on 
thereto  by  the  magnificent  nave  rising  in  neighboring  Amiens. 
But  the  works  were  not  started  till  1247,  for  the  bishop, 
more  a  feudal  baron  than  a  pastor,  was  for  a  time  entirely 
engrossed  in  mercenary  wars  in  Italy  and  in  quarreling  with 
Blanche  of  Castile,  the  queen-regent.  Finally  Bishop  Milon 
began  his  cathedral  in  Beauvais  on  a  scale  beyond  the  resources 
of  the  diocese.  Despite  his  own  and  the  chapter's  generous 
donations,  and  the  exemption  of  workmen  and  all  building 
material  from  taxes,  the  choir  was  not  finished  till  1272,  two 
years  after  the  choir  of  Cologne.  Scarcely  was  it  done  when, 
in  1284,  its  upper  vaulting  fell;  a  few  years  earlier  a  partial 
collapse  had  occurred.  To  remedy  the  disaster  new  piers 
had  to  be  inserted  between  the  old  ones,  which  explains  the 
sharp-pointed  arches  of  the  pier  arcade.  Only  in  the  ambula- 
tory, which  was  untouched  by  the  falling  masonry,  is  the 
original  vaulting  to  be  found.  The  required  addition  of 
flying  buttresses  was  no  improvement  to  the  symmetry  of 
the  exterior.  Instead  of  being  able  to  proceed  to  the  erection 
of  a  nave,  forty  years  were  wasted  in  repairs. 

Then  came  the  calamities  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War  when 
building  activities  flagged  all  over  France.  Never  again  were 
profiles  to  be  virile.  The  apogee  hour  of  Gothic  was  forever 
past.  With  English,  Burgundian,  and  French  troops  roving 
the  country,  Beauvais  was  kept  on  the  alert.  In  1429,  the 
citizens,  roused  by  Jeanne  d'Arc's  success  at  Orleans,  expelled 
their  bishop,  who  was  in  sympathy  with  the  foe,  and  was  none 
other  than  the  unworthy  Pierre  Cauchon,  soon  to  sit  as  mis- 
creant judge  at  the  Maid's  trial  in  Rouen.  Two  years  after 

still  are  Merovingian  remains,  such  as  the  crypt  of  Jouarre,  the  small  tri-lobed  church 
of  St.  Laurent  at  Grenoble,  the  crypt  of  St.  Leger  at  St.  Maixent  (Deux-Sevres),  a 
crypt  at  Lyons,  in  St.  Martin  d'Ainay,  and  apsidal  chapels  in  St.  Jean's  baptistry 
at  Poitiers.  A  list  of  the  Romanesque  monuments  of  the  Ile-de-France  and  bordering 
districts  is  to  be  found  in  Arthur  Kingsley  Porter's  Medieval  Architecture,  1909,  vol.  2, 
pp.  13-49. 

225 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Jeanne  bad  been  burned,  Beauvais  was  besieged  by  English 
troops,  and  so  gallant  was  the  behavior  of  the  women  of  the 
city,  notably  Jeanne  Hachette,  that  forever  after  was  accorded 
to  them  the  right  to  march  in  the  place  of  honor  in  all  pro- 
cessions, directly  behind  the  clergy.  When  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  England's  ally,  besieged  the  city  in  1472  he  burned 
the  episcopal  palace,  to  which  the  two  sturdy  towers  near  the 
Basse-CEuvre  originally  belonged.  Once  more  the  women  of 
Beauvais  fought  side  by  side  with  the  men,  while  the  children 
and  the  aged  gathered  in  the  cathedrals  to  supplicate  Heaven 
for  protection. 

No  city  in  the  land  had  better  cause  to  rejoice  over  peace 
and  the  invader's  expulsion  than  Beauvais.  And  nowhere 
did  Flamboyant  Gothic  take  on  nobler  expression  than  in  the 
stately  transept  now  added  to  the  cathedral,  a  masterpiece 
worthy  to  be  joined  to  the  giant  choir.  On  its  north  front 
worked  Martin  Chambiges,  who  gave  to  Troyes  and  Sens  their 
admirable  fagades.  Over-ornamentation  was  a  pitfall  for  the 
late-Gothic  masters,  but  not  for  Chambiges,  who  kept  Beauvais' 
strong  lines  of  construction  unobliterated  by  lavish  detail. 

Flamboyant  Gothic  was  essentially  a  decorative  art.  Therein 
only  did  it  differ  from  preceding  schools,  for  it  developed  no 
new  principles  of  construction.  Because  of  the  flamelike 
undulations  of  its  window  tracery,  the  Norman  archaeologist, 
M.  de  Caumont,  who  had  brought  into  use  the  name  Roman- 
esque, invented  the  equally  useful  term  Flamboyant.1  Ca- 


1  Among  the  Flamboyant  monuments  of  France  are  St.  Wulfran's  frontispiece  at 
Abbeville,  begun  in  1481,  overcharged  with  ornament  but  with  portals  of  great  beauty; 
St.  Riquier  near  by,  also  overcharged;  the  churches  of  Rue  and  Mezieres;  facades  of 
cathedrals  at  Sens,  Senlis,  Auxerre,  Troyes,  Tours,  and  Limoges;  Vendome's  frontis- 
piece, and  Albi's  porch;  towers  at  Bordeaux,  Rodez,  Saintes,  Chartres,  Auxerre, 
Bourges,  Rouen,  and  many  other  cities  in  Normandy;  the  cathedrals  of  Toul  and 
Metz;  St.  Maurice  at  Lille,  a  well-restrained  Flamboyant  monument;  the  magnificent 
church  of  St.  Nicholas-du-Port  near  Nancy;  the  choir  of  Moulins;  St.  Antoine  at 
Compiegne  and  a  number  of  civic  halls  such  as  Compiegne's  and  St.  Quentin's.  The 
beautiful  Flamboyant  Gothic  church  at  Peronne  (1509-25)  has  been  wiped  out  in 
the  World  War.  Artois  and  Flanders  were  especially  rich  in  late-Gothic  edifices. 
Normandy  was  a  Mecca  of  Flamboyant  work — from  Rouen,  to  that  gem  of  the  final 
phase,  the  choir  of  Mont  Saint-Michel.  Monseigneur  Dehaisnes,  Histoire  de  I'art 
dans  la  Flandre,  I' Artois  et  le  Hainaut  (Lille,  1886),  3  vols. 

226 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

pricious,  overladen,  disturbingly  restless,  this  final  phase  of 
the  national  art  may  often  be  (it  has  been  called  more  terrestrial 
than  celestial),  it  was  inclined  to  exhibit  its  technical  dexterity; 
but  none  the  less  it  was  keenly  alive  and  a  vast  improvement 
on  the  over-formalized  geometric  Rayonnant  Gothic  to  which 
it  succeeded.  In  both,  the  profiles  were  prismatic,  fluid,  and 
weak.  Discipline  which  made  for  robustness  was  forever 
lost. 

A  century  before  the  characteristics  of  Flamboyant  art 
developed  in  France,  they  were  in  use  in  England,  and  there 
called  Curvilinear  or  Decorated  Gothic.  Window  mullions 
undulated,  arches  were  crowned  with  reversed  curves  and 
sculptured  finials,  secondary,  connecting  ribs  were  added  to 
the  vaulting,  bases  were  elongated,  there  were  interpenetrating 
molds,  hanging  keystones,  piers  without  capitals,  and  such 
new  models  for  foliate  sculpture  as  the  deeply  indented  leaves 
of  parsley  and  curly  cabbage.  When  capitals  were  given 
up,  the  ribs  died  away  weakly  in  the  piers.  The  Gothic  of 
England  had  changed  to  its  cold  Perpendicular  phase  by  the 
time  that  the  architects  across  the  Channel  adopted  the 
features  called  Flamboyant  in  France. 

M.  Camille  Enlart  has  developed  the  idea  that  the  last 
phase  of  the  national  architecture  was  a  product  of  the 
English  occupation  during  the  Hundred  Years'  War,  that 
from  elements  of  decoration  introduced  by  England,  the 
French  composed  a  style  which  differed  somewhat  only 
from  that  in  vogue  across  the  Channel  from  1300  to  1360. 
In  France,  flowing  tracery  and  ogee  arches  were  not  used 
before  1375.  France  need  feel  no  diminution  of  her  claim 
of  leadership  in  Gothic  architecture  because  she  adopted, 
for  her  XV-century  traits,  certain  decorative  details  developed 
first  by  others,  since  the  Gothic  of  England  was  originally  of 
French  derivation. 

The  theory  of  an  English  origin  for  French  Flamboyancy 
is  contested  by  M.  Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  who  thought  that 
from  the  same  elements  of  XIH-century  Gothic  one  country 
developed  its  own  Curvilinear  style  and  the  other  its  own 

227 


Flamboyant  Gothic.1  M.  de  Lasteyrie  agreed  with  the 
thesis  that  there  is  a  French  origin  for  French  late-Gothic 
manifestations.  That  Flamboyant  art  is  in  part  indigenous 
and  partly  of  foreign  derivation  is  probably  nearest  the  truth. 
Certainly  sporadic  cases  of  florid  features  appeared  in  French 
art  during  the  XIII  and  XIV  centuries,  but  it  is  clear  that 
in  various  places  long  held  by  the  English  there  appeared  the 
first  or  the  fullest  expression  of  late-Gothic  art. 

Before  the  Flamboyant  Gothic  transept  of  Beauvais  was 
finished,  the  foreign  Renaissance  had  arrived  in  France. 
And  it  showed  here  in  the  richly  sculptured  doors.  The 
sibyls,  all  ten  of  whom  are  represented,  are,  as  pagans,  kept 
outside  the  church.  With  skilled  gradation  the  carving 
grows  deeper  and  bolder  toward  the  top  of  the  doors,  farthest 
away  from  the  eye.  Jean  Le  Pot  carved  the  southern  doors 
in  faultless  taste.  He  was  a  glassmaker  as  well,  and  in  St. 
Etienne's  church  are  his  windows  beside  those  of  his  father- 
in-law,  Engrand  Le  Prince,  who,  with  his  sons  Jean  and 
Nicholas,  made  the  north  and  south  rose  windows  of  the 
cathedral  and  its  splendid  Peter  and  Paul  window.  Their 
tree  of  Jesse,  in  St.  fitienne's  choir,  is  considered  a  master- 
piece of  color  and  design.  To-day  a  Le  Prince  window  in 
any  French  city  is  a  matter  of  civic  pride. 

The  old  saying  ran:  "The  choir  of  Beauvais,  the  nave  of 
Amiens,  the  portals  of  Rheims,  the  towers  of  Chartres"  make 
the  most  beautiful  cathedral  in  the  world.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  high  curve  the  upper  vaults  of  Beauvais  choir. 
Beneath  them  could  be  set  the  belfries  of  Notre  Dame  of 
Paris.  As  at  Bourges,  the  lofty  aisle  possesses  its  own  tri- 
forium  and  clearstory,  but  here  the  clearstory  of  the  central 
choir  has  not  been  dwarfed  as  a  result  of  the  stupendous  pier 


1  Andre  Michel,  ed.,  Histoire  de  I' Art,  vol.  3,  lere  partie,  "Le  style  flamboyant," 
Camille  Enlart  (Paris,  A.  Colin),  1914,  10  vols.;  Camille  Enlart,  "Origine  anglaise 
du  style  flamboyant,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1886,  1906,  p.  38;  A.  Saint-Paul, 
" L'architecture  religieuse  en  France  pendant  la  Guerre  de  Cent  Ans,"  in  Bulletin 
Monumental,  1908,  p.  5;  ibid.,  Lcs  origincs  du  gothique  flamboyant  en  France  (Caen, 
1907);  Arthur  Kingsley  Porter,  Medieval  Architecture,  vol.  2  (New  York  and  London, 
1907),  2  vols. 

228 


SOME  OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT   CATHEDRALS 

arcades.  Beauvais  dared  to  make  its  upper  windows  eighty 
feet  high.  Think  what  its  interior  would  be  had  it  retained 
the  original  stained  glass!  Its  towering  choir  windows  would 
scintillate  like  those  of  Sainte-Chapelle,  since  it  was  the  Paris 
school  that  supplied  XIH-century  Beauvais. 

Such  a  sweep  of  fragile  glass  was  possible  because  the  play 
of  thrusts  and  counterthrusts  had  been  calculated  to  a  cer- 
tainty. Technically,  Beauvais  is  the  extreme  expression  of 
the  Gothic  theory.  It  perfected  the  pier  by  making  it  ellip- 
tical, widest  where  fell  the  greatest  strain,  north  and  south. 
It  is  said  that  its  error  lay  in  certain  false  bearings,  that  some 
of  the  intermediate  buttresses  were  balanced  half  on  air 
without  direct  ground  'supports.  That  may  have  been  tem- 
erarious, since  building  material  of  perfect  quality  is  required 
when  chances  are  taken.  Certainly  Beauvais  pushed  to  its 
rigid  consequences  the  law  of  equilibrium,  allowing  no  excess 
in  the  supporting  members,  but  it  was  not  a  builder's  folly. 

M.  de  Lasteyrie  has  called  its  plan  a  chef-d'oeuvre  of  light- 
ness. Though  the  architect  pushed  his  technique  to  the 
extreme  limit  of  the  law  of  thrust  and  counterthrust,  he  did 
not  pass  beyond  the  possible,  and  had  he  employed  the  hard, 
resistant  stone  of  Burgundy  the  history  of  the  cathedral 
church  he  built  would  not  be  a  tale  of  disasters.  What  brought 
about  the  collapse  of  Beauvais'  vaults  was  the  use  of  inferior 
stone. 

Sometimes  one  feels  in  the  hardihood  of  this  cathedral  a 
trace  of  everweening  pride,  as  if  its  certitude  of  excelling 
tended  to  virtuosity.  The  stupefying  ascending  lines,  strong- 
willed  and  carried  out  with  science,  seem  as  much  to  vaunt 
the  enterprise  of  their  builder  as  pay  homage  to  the  Creator. 
Some  of  the  lesser  churches,  that  humbly  and  tentatively 
reached  out  toward  perfection,  make  a  deeper  appeal  than 
does  stupendous  Beauvais.  Was  man  meant  for  the  super- 
lative on  earth?  And  one  remembers  that  Bishop  Milon 
de  Nanteuil  was  a  proud  man  of  the  world,  very  unlike  that 
true  pastor  of  souls,  Maurice  de  Sully,  who  with  unpretentious 
diligence  raised  Notre  Dame  of  Paris.  Such  criticisms  would 

229 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

be  silenced,  perhaps,  had  Beauvais  a  nave  from  which  could 
be  viewed  its  overwhelming  choir.  Truncated  as  it  now  is, 
it  is  necessary  to  crane  the  neck  in  order  to  see  its  clearstory 
windows.  So  colossal  a  thing  should  be  led  up  to  gradually; 
it  cries  out  insistently  for  its  missing  nave. 

Fatality  seemed  always  to  pursue  Beauvais.  After  terminat- 
ing a  noble  Flamboyant  transept,  the  ambitious  citizens 
were  lured  into  the  scheme  of  a  central  tower,  when  a  church 
of  such  height  should  have  at  its  crossing  merely  a  slender 
spire.  Instead  of  proceeding  to  build  a  nave,  they  raised  a 
lantern  that  lacked  merely  a  few  feet  of  the  enormous  height 
of  St.  Peter's  dome  in  Rome.  It  was  a  day  of  tower  building 
in  France,  and  Beauvais,  ever  hopeful  beyond  its  resources, 
thought  to  outvie  all  others.  On  feast  days  lights  were  hung 
in  its  spire's  open  stonework  for  the  illumination  of  the 
entire  countryside.  For  five  years  only  the  giant  beacon 
stood.  On  Ascension  Day  of  1573,  just  after  the  congregation 
had  left  the  church  to  walk  in  procession,  the  tower  fell  with 
an  appalling  noise,  covering  the  whole  town  with  dust.  Only 
one  bay  of  the  nave  has  been  built,  its  piers  have  disappearing 
moldings,  amorphous  profiles,  and  no  capitals  whatever. 
Beauvais  stands  a  massive  fragment,  and  there  seems  little 
chance  that  the  truncated  church  will  ever  be  completed. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  TROYES  * 

With  travail  great,  and  little  cargo  fraught, 

See  how  our  world  is  laboring  in  pain; 

So  filled  we  are  with  love  of  evil  gain 
That  no  one  thinks  of  doing  what  he  ought, 

But  we  all  hustle  in  the  Devil's  train, 
And  only  in  his  service  toil  and  pray; 
And  God,  who  suffered  for  us  agony, 

We  set  behind,  and  treat  him  with  disdain. 
Hardy  is  he  whom  death  doth  not  dismay. 


1  (Jongres  Archeologique,  1902;  V.  C.  de  Courcel,  La  cathedrale  de  Troyes,  (1910); 
L.  Morel-Payen,  Troyes  et  Provins  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens, 
1910);  F.  Arnaud,  Description  historique  de  I'eglise  cathedrale  de  Troyes;  J.  B.  Coffinet, 
"Les  peintres-verriers  de  Troyes,"  in  Annales  Archeologiques,  vol.  18,  pp.  125,  212; 
A.  J.  de  H.  Bushnell,  Storied  Windows,  chapters  32  and  33,  on  Troyes  (New  York, 
Macmillan  Company,  1914);  Ch.  Fichot,  Statistigue  monumentale  du  departement  de 

230 


SOME  OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

The  feeble  mouse,  against  the  winter's  cold 
Garners  the  nuts  and  grain  within  his  cell, 
While  man  goes  groping,  without  sense  to  tell 

Where  to  seek  refuge  against  growing  old.  .  .  . 

The  Devil  doth  in  snares  our  life  enfold. 

Four  hooks  he  has  with  torments  baited  well; 
And  first  with  Greed  he  casts  a  mighty  spell, 

And  then,  to  fill  his  nets  has  Pride  enrolled, 

And  Luxury  steers  the  boat  and  fills  the  sail, 

And  Perfidy  controls  and  sets  the  snare. 

Thus  the  poor  fish  are  brought  to  land. 

— COUNT  THIBAUT  IV  of  Champagne.1 

Beneath  the  present  choir  of  Troyes  Cathedral  are  Gallo- 
Roman  walls,  and  a  succession  of  edifices  have  stood  on  the 
same  site.  From  the  cathedral  of  the  V  century  started  the 
bishop,  St.  Loup,  "the  friend  of  God,"  when  he  went  forth 
to  check  Attila  the  Hun,  "God's  scourge,"  and  the  barbarian 
was  touched  by  spiritual  fear  and  retired.  That  same  good 
bishop  of  Troyes  was  the  companion  of  St.  Germain  of 
Auxerre,  on  the  notable  journey  north,  when  they  blessed  the 
gentle  child  Genevieve  in  a  village  near  Paris,  marking  her 
as  a  vessel  of  election. 

Probably  the  cathedral  immediately  preceding  the  present 
one  was  in  large  part  early-Gothic.  Fire  wiped  it  out,  in  1188, 
and  preparations  for  a  new  basilica  were  started  by  the 
energetic  Bishop  Gamier  de  Trainel,  who  went  on  the  Fourth 
Crusade,  and  was  among  those,  says  Villehardouin,  who 
scaled  the  walls  of  captured  Constantinople  along  with  his 
friend  Nivelon,  the  bishop-builder  of  Soissons. 

The  first  stone  of  the  new  cathedral  at  Troyes  was  laid  in 
1206  by  Bishop  Herve  (1206-23),  an  able  man  who  had 

I'Aube,  vol.  1,  Arrondissement  de  Troyes  (Troyes,  1884),  4to;  R.  Koechlin  and  J.  M. 
de  Vasselot,  La  sculpture  a  Troyes  et  dans  la  Champagne  mendionale  au  XVle  siecle 
(Paris,  A.  Colin,  1900);  Raymond  Koechlin,  "La  sculpture  du  XIVe  et  du  XVe  siecle 
dans  la  region  de  Troyes,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1908;  Paul  Vitry,  Michel  Colombe 
et  la  sculpture  frangaise  de  son  temps  (Paris,  1901);  Louis  Gonse,  La  sculpture  fran^aise 
depuis  le  XIVe  siecle  (Paris,  Quantin,  1895),  folio;  D'Arbois  de  Jubainville,  Histoire 
des  dues  et  des  comtes  de  Champagne,  1859,  7  vols.;  Rentier,  Histoire  de  Troyes  et  de 
la  Champagne  meridionale  (Troyes,  1880),  4  vols.;  Amedee  Aufauvre,  Troyes  et  ses 
environs. 

1  Translation  from  Xlll-century  French  by  Henry  Adams. 

231 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

been  advanced  by  the  observant  prelate  of  Paris,  Eudes  de 
Sully.  For  almost  twenty  years  Bishop  Herve  worked  on  the 
choir,  considered  one  of  the  best  chevets  in  France.  During 
his  episcopate  Troyes  was  a  brilliant  center  of  European 
trade  and  culture.  Blanche  of  Castile  and  young  Louis  IX 
passed  some  time  in  the  city  when  Thibaut  IV  the  Singer, 
related  to  the  royal  line,  was  attacked  by  the  clique  of  rebellious 
barons  who  plotted  against  the  boy  king.  There  had  been 
considerable  romancing  about  the  volatile,  inconstant  Thibaut's 
admiration  for  Queen  Blanche,  who  was  a  married  woman 
before  he  was  born.  His  own  mother,  Blanche  of  Navarre, 
another  of  the  able  women  rulers  of  that  day,  gave  generously 
to  the  new  cathedral  of  her  capital  city. 

In  1228  a  storm  damaged  the  rising  structure,  necessitating 
years  of  tiresome  repairs.  Pope  Urban  IV,  as  a  native  son  of 
Troyes,  contributed.  During  the  last  forty  years  of  the 
XIII  century  the  transept  was  building.  It  showed  traces  of 
English  feeling  derived  perhaps  from  Edmund  Plantagenet,  a 
son  of  the  builder  of  Westminster  Abbey,  who  had  married 
the  dowager  Countess  of  Champagne.  His  ward  Jeanne, 
Thibaut  the  Singer's  granddaughter,  inherited  the  countship 
of  Champagne,  the  kingdom  of  Navarre,  and  by  marriage 
became  the  queen  of  France. 

Slowly  during  the  XIV  and  XV  centuries,  one  bay  of  the 
nave  was  added  to  another;  the  changes  from  the  precise 
lines  of  Rayonnant  tracery  to  the  undulating  mullions  of  the 
Flamboyant  day  are  easy  to  follow.  The  long  delays  were 
caused  by  lack  of  funds  and  the  repeated  need  for  consolidating 
the  parts  already  built.  The  soil  on  which  the  church  stood 
was  unsuitable,  and  from  the  first,  security  was  jeopardized 
by  using  the  soft,  native  stone  in  those  parts  of  the  edifice 
which  were  out  of  sight,  in  order  to  economize  on  the  firm 
stone  imported  from  Burgundy. 

Several  times  during  the  difficulties  of  reconstruction,  the 
cathedral  chapter  turned  for  advice  to  noted  masters — to 
Raymond  du  Temple,  Charles  V's  architect,  and  to  Andre  de 
Dammartin,  patronized  by  the  king's  brothers  of  Berry  and 

232 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER   GREAT   CATHEDRALS 

Burgundy.  Work  ceased  altogether  during  the  English 
occupancy. 

Then  in  1429  the  city  opened  its  gates  to  Charles  VII  on 
his  way  to  be  crowned  at  Rheims.  Jeanne  d'Arc,  during  her 
trial  in  Rouen,  told  of  an  incident  of  their  entry  into  Troyes. 
Some  of  the  townspeople  were  fearful  lest  the  heroine  of 
Orleans  came  of  the  devil,  so  they  had  a  holy  preacher  march 
out  to  exorcise  her.  Scattering  holy  water  and  making  re- 
peated signs  of  the  Cross,  Brother  Richard  approached  the 
Maid.  "Draw  near  without  uneasiness,"  Jeanne  assured  him, 
in  her  pleasant  manner.  "I  won't  fly  away." 

The  city  by  its  reception  of  the  king  evinced  eagerness  to 
wipe  out  the  infamy  of  the  Treaty  of  Troyes,  signed  here  in 
1420  by  Queen  Isabeau  of  Bavaria,  wherein  she  repudiated 
her  son  Charles  VII  and  gave  France  over  to  the  foreign 
invader.  The  people's  renewed  hope  and  self-respect  expressed 
itself  in  some  of  the  most  lovely  Flamboyant  foliage  ever 
chiseled — the  deeply  undercut  leafage  on  the  gable  of  the 
north  portal  (1462-68). 

Work  on  the  cathedral  was  taken  up  with  energy  after 
Jeanne,  carrying  her  standard,  had  hallowed  the  streets  of 
Troyes.  As  the  XV  century  closed,  the  nave's  radiant  late- 
Gothic  windows  were  installed.  They  are  of  the  Biblia 
pauperum  type,  and  are  surprisingly  like  big  translucent 
woodcuts.  They  tell  the  story  of  Daniel,  Tobias,  Joseph  and 
his  brethren,  Job — a  window  especially  to  be  noticed — some 
parables,  too,  and  edifying  legends.  The  scenes  are  set  quite 
as  they  appeared  in  the  mystery  plays,  the  costumes  being 
not  of  Syria,  but  of  the  very  stuffs  and  damasks  bought  in 
their  own  international  fairs.  The  same  masters  of  Troyes, 
Verrat,  Godon,  Lyenin,  Macadre,  who  signed  a  rose  window 
of  Sens  transept,  put  their  signatures  here. 

Bible  stories  such  as  these  suit  the  layman's  part  of  a 
church,  for  they  serve  to  hold  the  attention  of  the  average 
man.  In  the  choir  of  Troyes  are  thirteen  large  windows  of 
an  earlier  day,  profounder  in  color  and  more  spiritual  in 
suggestion.  They  are  like  a  jeweled  cloistral  screen  around 

233 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  Holy  of  Holies.  In  the  upper  central  windows  are  the 
Passion  scenes,  and  on  either  side  rise  tier  on  tier  of  martyrs 
who  witnessed  to  the  Faith — bishops,  abbots,  and  a  few 
important  personages,  such  as  Pope  Innocent  III,  Bishop 
Herve,  the  builder,  and  the  archbishop  of  Sens,  the  learned 
Pierre  de  Corbeil.  On  one  side  of  the  choir  Henry  I,  emperor 
of  Constantinople,  of  the  house  of  Champagne,  is  pictured, 
and  Philippe-Auguste,  suzerain  of  Champagne.  And  opposite 
in  the  fourth  window  are  donjons  and  fleurs-de-lys  showing 
that  the  queen-regent,  Blanche  of  Castile,  was  generous 
here  as  elsewhere. 

The  upper  choir  windows  of  Troyes  allowed  more  light  to 
pass  than  had  their  immediate  predecessors,  the  lancets  of 
Chartres.  Their  colors  were  clear  and  bright;  only  such  stone 
mullions  were  used  as  were  absolutely  required  for  the  support 
of  the  glass.  The  eight  lateral  windows  of  the  upper  choir 
belong  to  the  XIII  century,  the  five  at  the  eastern  curve  to 
the  XIV  century.  In  the  lower  choir  are  various  ancient 
windows,  liberally  restored,  the  Tree  of  Jesse,  of  Byzantine 
character,  being  the  best.  Two  hundred  years  later  another 
Tree  of  Jesse  was  made  by  Lyenin,1  for  the  clearstory  of  the 
nave.  It  gave  Christian  folk  a  feeling  of  pride  to  record  the 
Lord's  high  ancestry  according  to  Isaias  and  the  Acts.  This 
cathedral  of  Troyes  was  one  of  the  first  to  glaze  its  triforium, 
even  before  St.  Denis'  abbatial.  The  present  triforium  lights 
are,  in  most  part,  modern. 

By  1504  the  clearstory  windows  of  the  nave  were  all  in 
place.  Among  their  donors  was  represented  a  mayor  of 
Troyes  with  all  his  family.  The  golden-hued  west  rose  was 
put  up  in  1546.  And  even  into  the  XVII  century  the  vitrine 
art  of  this  exceptional  city  maintained  its  high  traditions  of 
five  hundred  years.  In  1625  Linard  Gontier  made  the  Pressoir 
window,  the  swan-song  of  good  Renaissance  glass.  There  is  a 
translucent  picture  of  Our  Lady  in  the  nave's  south  aisle, 
with  stars  leaded  into  holes  that  were  cut  out  of  an  entire 

1  Generation  after  generation,  the  Lyenin,  Macadre,  Verrat,  and  Gontier  families 
produced  noted  artists.  Assier,  Les  arts  dans  Vandenne  capitale  de  la  Champagne. 

234 


SOME  OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

plate  of  glass;  any  apprentice  who  could  perform  that  difficult 
feat  of  glazing  was  promoted  to  be  a  master  craftsman.1 

For  the  building  of  the  cathedral's  west  front,  the  chapter, 
in  1506,  called  on  the  noted  late-Gothic  master,  Martin 
Chambiges,  who  had  made  his  reputation  with  transept 
facades  at  Beauvais  and  Sens.  Together  with  other  artists, 
his  son,  Pierre  (who  won  fame  with  Senlis'  transept  fagade, 
and  who,  in  1539,  began  the  chateau  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye), 
carried  on  Troyes'  frontispiece  during  fifty  years,  so  that  its 
imagery — badly  damaged  by  the  Revolution — shows  the  ermine 
of  Anne  of  Brittany,  the  porcupine  of  Louis  XII,  and  the  sala- 
mander of  Francis  I.  Troyes,  with  its  record  of  four  hundred 
years,  was,  of  all  the  cathedrals  of  France,  the  longest  in  building. 

In  spite  of  its  double  aisles,  its  wide  transept,  its  noble, 
deep  choir,  and  its  astounding  wealth  of  storied  windows, 
it  is  clear  when  standing  before  the  Flamboyant  Gothic  front 
of  this  chief  church  of  Champagne's  capital,  that  it  is  a  cathe- 
dral of  secondary  rank.  The  flaw  here  is  one  of  proportion. 
With  such  width — and  this  is  the  widest  cathedral  in  France 
—the  church  should  be  thirty  feet  higher.  However,  no 
traveler  with  harmony  in  his  soul  thinks  of  technical  criti- 
cism once  he  steps  across  the  threshold  and  walks  beneath 
the  joyous  terrestrial  windows  of  the  nave  and  the  seraphic 
lights  of  the  sanctuary. 


1  The  same  feat  can  be  seen  in  St.  Nizier  at  Troyes,  rebuilt  in  1528  and  literally 
filled  with  XVI-century  glass.  Its  best  window  is  in  the  transept  (1552),  and  shows 
the  beasts  of  heresy  trampled  upon,  for  that  day  was  nothing  if  not  controversial. 
In  a  central  window  of  the  choir,  the  Descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  artist  made  the 
hands  of  a  figure  in  one  panel  appear  in  the  neighboring  panel,  regardless  of  the  stone 
mullions.  In  1901  an  anarchist  bomb  exploded  in  St.  Nizier,  and  in  1910  a  terrible 
storm  wrecked  more  of  its  windows.  The  church  possesses  a  Saint  Sepulcre  and  a 
Christ  de  Pile  in  which  the  Gothic  spirit  lingers.  Its  reredos,  now  in  the  Museum, 
was  from  the  Juliot  atelier.  Her  international  fairs  early  accustomed  Troyes  to 
foreign  influences.  Flemish  realism  had  fortified  her  sculptors  and  vitrine  artists, 
and  during  the  first  third  of  the  XVI  century  (when  the  trade  of  the  city  tripled 
itself)  the  new  Italian  ideas  found  favor.  For  a  generation  the  just  and  loyal  measure 
of  Champagne's  own  Gothic  tradition  held  the  leadership,  but  finally  the  Italian 
Renaissance  conquered.  When  abstract  types  were  substituted  for  types  precisely 
observed,  imagery  became  cold,  declamatory,  and  pretentious.  In  several  of  the 
churches  of  Troyes  will  be  found  the  Education  of  the  Virgin  by  her  mother,  St.  Anne, 
a  theme  for  which  this  city  had  a  partiality. 

235 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

ST.  URBAIN  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES  AT  TROYES1 

Madame,  je  vous  le  demande, 
Pensez-vous  ne  soit  p6ch6 
D'occire  son  vrai  amant? 
Oil  voir;  bien  le  sachiez. 
S'il  vous  plait  ne  m'occiez; 
Car,  je  vous  le  dis  vraiment, 
Quoique  1'amour  soit  tourment, 
Si  vous  m'aimez  mieux  vivant, 
Je  n'en  serai  point  f&.che'. 

— THIBAUT  IV  of  Champagne,  in  lighter  mood. 

St.  Urbain's  famous  collegiate  church,  a  forerunner  of 
XlV-century  Rayonnant  Gothic,  was  founded  by  a  son  of 
Troyes,  who  sat  in  Peter's  chair,  Urban  IV.  He  tells  us  that 
"in  the  desire  that  the  memory  of  this  our  name  might  remain 
forever  in  the  city  of  Troyes  even  after  the  dissolution  of 
our  body,"  he  began,  in  1262,  a  church  on  the  site  where  his 
father's  shop  had  stood,  choosing  for  its  tutelary  the  saint- 
pope,  Urban,  who  had  succored  the  early  martyrs  in  Rome. 
His  father  was  a  prosperous  shoemaker  in  the  day  when 
tradesmen  gave  princely  gifts  to  their  parish  churches.  Urban 
IV  himself  had  been  a  choir  boy  in  Troyes  Cathedral. 

He  died  before  his  church  was  finished,  but  his  nephew, 
Cardinal  Pantaleone  Ancher,  continued  the  edifice,  which 
was  completed  in  1276.  Urban's  successor,  Clement  IV, 
also  a  Frenchman,  patronized  the  new  works  at  Troyes. 
While  the  choir  and  transept  were  done  by  one  generation, 
many  a  century  was  to  pass  before  the  westernmost  bay  and 
facade  were  finished. 

In  archaeological  circles  St.  Urbain  is  noted,  Viollet-le-Duc 
being  the  first  to  discuss  its  ingenuity.  As  construction  it 
is  a  small  masterpiece,  a  model  of  elasticity,  perhaps  the 
lightest  and  most  fragile  of  all  Gothic  edifices.  To  an  econ- 
omy in  stone  we  owe  this  structural  feat.  Were  the  principle 

1  Abbe  O.  F.  Jossier,  Monographic  des  vitraux  de  St.  Urbain  de  Troyea  (Troyes, 
1912);  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "Jean  Langlois,  architecte  de  St.  Urbain  de  Troyes,  in 
Bulletin  Monumental,  1904,  vol.  64,  p.  93;  Albert  Barbeau,  St.  Urbain  de  Troyes 
(Troyes,  Dufour-Bonquot,  1891),  8vo;  Viollet-le-Duc,  Dictionnaire  de  I' architecture, 
vol.  4,  pp.  182-192;  Abb6  Lahore,  L'eglise  Saint-Urbain  (1891). 

236 


*  St.  Urbain  at  Troyes  (1264-1276) 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

of  equilibrium  pushed  a  step  farther,  metal,  not  stone,  would 
be  required.  Ground  supports  have  been  lessened,  and 
flying  buttresses  attenuated  to  the  last  limit.  Despite  its 
science,  St.  Urbain  is  not  doctrinaire,  but  immaterial  and 
seductive.  On  first  entering  it  Montalembert  exclaimed, 
"Quelle  delicieuse  iglisel " 

The  architect,  Jean  Langlois,  here  created  the  most  elegant 
form  of  Rayonnant  window  tracery.  At  his  porch  appears 
the  first  French  arch  of  double  curvature,  the  earliest  inter- 
penetration  of  archivolts.  We  know  his  name  because  in 
1267  a  papal  bull  summoned  him  to  account  for  sums  advanced 
on  the  edifice,  and  Jean  was  not  forthcoming,  because  he  had 
disappeared  in  the  East,  crusading.  The  chief  church  at 
Famagusta,  in  Cyprus,  begun  in  1300 — the  only  completed 
French- Gothic  cathedral  of  the  XIV  century — shows  such 
analogies  with  St.  Urbain  at  Troyeis  that  apparently  Langlois' 
architectural  influence  had  spread  in  the  Orient. 

M.  Lefevre-Pontalis  has  called  Troyes'  lantern  church 
inundated  with  light  one  of  the  most  original  monuments 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  Ten  feet  above  the  ground  its  walls 
change  to  opalescent  glass.  No  grisaille  is  more  exquisitely 
decorated  with  natural  foliage  outlines;  set  in  the  expanses 
of  the  opal-tinted  white  glass  are  colored  medallions  of  extreme 
beauty.  The  lower  row  of  lights  around  the  choir  are  of  this 
character.  Above  them,  and  almost  a  part  of  them,  are  the 
choir's  upper  windows — big  prophets  and  patriarchs  with 
the  Crucifixion  in  the  center — transition  windows  between 
legend-medallion  glass,  and  the  XIV  century's  single  figures  in 
a  vitrine  architectural  frame.  The  arms  of  France,  Champagne, 
and  Navarre  appear  in  the  borders  of  the  choir  windows. 

The  transeptal  chapel  to  the  north  of  the  choir  shows  in 
its  quatrefoils  some  interesting  heads  of  men,  women,  and 
children.  From  the  windows  of  the  south  transeptal  chapel 
some  panels  were  stolen,  but  St.  Urbain's  cure,  Abbe  Jossier, 
a  learned  enthusiast,  was  able,  by  sending  photographs  all 
over  France,  to  trace  his  lost  panels  in  a  private  collection, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  they  may  be  returned. 

237 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

In  his  short  pontificate,  1262-64,  Urban  IV,  besides 
creating  this  enduring  memorial,  instituted  the  feast  of  Corpus 
Christi.  He  requested  a  liturgy  for  his  new  feast  from  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas,  who  composed  the  Pange  lingua  gloriosi, 
the  last  stanzas  of  which  are  sung  daily  throughout  the 
Christian  world,  the  familiar  Tantum  ergo.  To  Aquinas  is 
ascribed  the  Verbum  supernum  prodiens  hymn  whose  ending 
is  the  lovely  0  Salutaris  Hostia.  Doubt  and  heresy  have 
always  been  instrumental  in  clarifying  doctrine  and  in  enriching 
the  liturgy  and  art.  So  in  a  later  day  was  made,  in  reaction 
against  the  XVI-century  desecration  of  the  Eucharist,  such 
windows  as  the  Wine  Press  of  Troyes  and  that  of  Conches. 

In  1906,  soon  after  St.  Urbain's  church  had  celebrated  the 
completion  of  its  western  portal,  it  became  the  scene  of  a 
conscientious  objection  on  the  part  of  its  parishioners,  who 
protested  against  the  taking  of  an  inventory,  they  deeming  it 
an  unlawful  interference  with  their  private  affairs.  They  sat 
in  their  church  till  the  police  broke  in  the  doors;  even  then 
they  continued  to  sing  canticles,  and  were  expelled  only  by 
having  a  hose  turned  on  them.  Six  centuries  earlier,  St. 
Urbain's  had  been  the  scene,  on  the  completion  of  its  choir, 
of  a  suffragette-like  demonstration  by  a  community  of  nuns, 
who  claimed  part  of  the  land  on  which  the  church  stood. 
They  smashed  various  things  on  the  premises,  and,  it  is 
whispered,  even  slapped  a  high  dignitary's  face.  Apparently 
St.  Urbain's  is  destined  to  pass  into  history  under  various 
aspects. 

For  four  hundred  years  the  ancient  capital  of  Champagne 
was  an  active  center  of  the  stained-glass  industry.  Over- 
powering is  the  wealth  of  storied  windows  to  be  found  in  its 
churches,  the  majority  being  of  the  Flamboyant-Renaissance 
day.  In  the  suburbs,  and  farther  afield  in  the  hamlets  of 
Champagne,  there  is  the  same  prodigal  display  of  colored 
windows  and  interesting  statues.1  From  father  to  son,  from 

1  Within  walking  distance  of  Troyes  are  Ste.  Maure,  with  a  Jesse  tree  by  Linard 
Gontier;  Les  Noes,  with  good  sculpture  and  a  Jesse-tree  window  of  1521;  St.  Andre- 
les-Troyes,  with  a  lovely  St.  Catherine  statue;  St.  Parre-les-Tertres,  with  a  Vision 

238 


SOME   OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

generation  to  generation,  was  passed  on  the  art  skill  of  this 
ancient  city  on  the  highway  of  international  trade. 

In  Troyes  there  were  so  many  churches  that  the  old  saying 
ran:  "You  arrived  from  Troyes?  And  what  are  they  doing 
there?"  "  On  y  sonne"  Next  to  St.  Urbain's,  for  its  wealth 
of  art  treasures,  comes  the  Madeleine  church  built  about  1175, 
and  reconstructed  during  the  Flamboyant  enthusiasm  when 
this  city  readorned  almost  every  shrine  it  possessed.  Con- 
temporary with  its  noted  jube,  or  rood  screen  (1508-17), 
is  the  statue  of  St.  Martha,  one  of  the  gems  of  French 
sculpture,  entirely  of  the  national  school,  unaffected  work  as 
ample  and  robust  as  the  best  period  of  the  XIII  century. 
St.  Martha  is  represented,  in  this  church  of  Troyes  dedicated 
to  her  sister,  with  the  holy  water  by  which  she  exorcised  the 
legendary  Tarasque  of  Tarascon.  She  was  the  patroness  of 
housekeepers,  and  it  is  said  that  the  servant  maids  of  Troyes 
presented  to  their  church  this  memorial  of  the  plastic  genius 
of  Champagne.1 

Champagne's  special  aptitude  for  sculpture  appeared  in 
the  XHI-century  gargoyles  of  St.  Urbain's  church,  each  of 

of  Augustus  in  camaieu  like  a  magnificent  enamel  on  white  glass,  and  another  grisaille- 
.  like  Vision  of  Augustus  at  St.  Leger-les-Troyes  (1558) ;  Chapelle  St.  Luc,  with  a 
triptych  on  wood,  sculpture  of  the  Three  Maries,  and  good  glass;  Torvilliers,  Pont- 
Ste.-Marie,  and  Montgueux,  with  other  objets  d'art.  Eight  miles  away,  at  Verrieres,  is 
the  best  portal  of  the  region  and  more  late-Gothic  glass.  There  are  storied  windows 
at  St.  Loup,  St.  Ponanges,  Rosnay,  Brienne,  Rouilly  (with  a  good  Virgin  image), 
Pouvres,  Chavanges,  Bar-sur-Seine,  Bar-sur-Aube  (with  a  statue  of  St.  Barbara), 
Mussy-sur-Seine,  Montier-en-Der,  Arcis-sur-Aube,  and  Ceffonds,  whose  windows 
were  the  gift  of  Etienne  Chevalier  (1528).  Some  thirty  miles  away  lies  St.  Florentin 
(six  miles  from  Pontigny),  where  are  twenty  splendid  Renaissance  lights,  among 
them  a  Creation  window  (1525),  with  God  the  Father  wearing  the  tiara,  one  of  1528 
telling  St.  Nicolas'  life  in  quatrains  describing  each  scene,  and  a  1529  window  devoted 
to  the  Apocalypse.  Between  Troyes  and  St.  Florentin  lies  Ervy,  where  is  a  Cruci- 
fixion window  (1570),  showing  the  Saviour  nailed  to  a  Tree  of  Knowledge  Cross  with 
apples  and  leaves  on  its  top,  and  Adam  and  Eve  standing  below.  There  are  also 
the  noted  windows  of  the  Sibyls  (1515),  representing  twelve  instead  of  ten  prophetesses, 
each  accompanied  by  the  event  of  the  New  Law  which  she  is  said  to  have  foretold, 
and  the  window  called  the  Triumph  of  Petrarch  (1502). 

1  Of  the  same  appealing  type  as  St.  Martha  at  Troyes  are  the  Virgin  and  Madeleine- 
of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  group  at  Villeneuve  1'Archeveque  (Yonne),  where  are  also  some 
beautiful  portal  images  of  the  XIII  century.  M.  Ch.  Fichot  has  brought  forward 
testimony  that  would  indicate  the  image  called  St.  Martha  in  the  church  of  the  Mad- 
eleine is  really  one  of  St.  Mary  Magdelene  herself.  However,  the  majority  of  those 
who  have  written  on  the  sculpture  of  Champagne  continue  to  call  it  a  St.  Martha. 
16  239 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

which  was  almost  a  complete  figure.  Later  her  imagery  grew 
mannered  for  a  few  generations,  with  the  Madonna's  face 
of  a  formal  type,  and  an  exaggerated  throwing  out  of  the 
hip.  The  advent  of  Flemish  realism,  through  the  Franco- 
Flamand  school  at  Dijon,  renewed  the  vigor  of  French  idealism, 
and  before  the  XV  century  closed  a  truly  French  Renaissance 
had  set  in,  retaining  the  equipoise  of  the  old  school  and  quite 
free  of  Italian  classicism. 

Eventually  the  imported  standards  checked  that  renewed 
national  movement.  It  was  not  the  big  men  of  Italy's  revival 
who  came  to  Champagne,  but  secondary  artists  whose  work  was 
often  pretentious  or  coldly  abstract.  From  1540,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Italian,  Domenico  Rinnuccini,  called  Floren- 
tine, the  foreign  Renaissance  prevailed  at  Troyes.  In  the 
church  of  the  Madeleine,  besides  its  jube  and  St.  Martha 
statue,  is  some  of  the  best  XVI-century  glass.  A  window  of 
1506  tells  the  life  of  St.  Eloi,  the  goldsmith-bishop  of  Noyon; 
a  window  dated  1517  is  devoted  to  St.  Louis;  Jean  Macadre  I 
made  a  Jesse  tree;  and  there  is  the  celebrated  Creation  in 
which  God  the  Father  wears  the  papal  tiara,  significant  of 
the  reaction  that  followed  Luther's  attacks  on  Rome.  There 
are,  also,  two  good  XV-century  windows,  the  Lord's  Passion 
and  the  Magdalene's  story. 

So  vast  is  the  accumulation  of  treasures  in  the  sanctuaries 
of  Troyes  that  one  can  indicate  merely  a  few  of  them.  In 
St.  Jean's  church — Flamboyant  Gothic  mainly,  with  a  XII- 
century  tower  and  a  XlV-century  nave — is  a  Visitation 
(1520)  by  Nicolas  Haslin,  a  meeting  of  two  pleasant  dames 
of  Troyes,  wearing  robes  of  Burgundian  fullness,  a  group 
in  which  there  appears  a  first  evidence  of  transalpine  influence. 
The  reredos,  from  the  Juliot  studio,  that  led  in  the  transition 
from  French  Gothic  art  to  the  neo-classic  standards,  has 
conventional  images  somewhat  overgestured.  In  the  flat 
eastern  wall  of  St.  Jean  is  a  maitresse  vitre  (1630)  by  the  Gontier 
brothers,  delicate  in  hue,  yet  radiant,  with  half  tones  such 
as  mauve,  salmon  pink,  soft  grays,  pomegranate,  celadine 
green.  Eagerly  the  Renaissance  masters  seized  on  the  new 

240 


SOME   OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

invention  of  verre  double,  which  allowed  them  a  fuller  palate. 
Their  over-use  of  opaque  enamel-painting  on  glass  led  to  the 
deterioration  of  the  vitrine  art,  for  the  picture-painter  soon 
swamped  the  glazier  and  draftsman  who  had  worked  in  sub- 
ordination to  the  architect. 

In  the  church  of  St.  Pantaleon,  where  Lyenin  II  worked, 
the  windows  are  in  one  or  two  tones,  gray -brown  with  silver- 
stain  yellow  and  flesh  color,  a  style  better  suited  to  domestic 
interiors  or  to  civic  halls  than  to  churches.  The  church 
boasts  a  statue  of  St.  James  and  a  Charite  by  Domenico 
Florentino,  and  a  St.  Crespin  group  by  a  son  of  Troyes, 
Frangois  Gentil,  influenced  by  the  Italian.  To  Gentil  is 
attributed  the  Christ  at  the  column  and  the  Christ  bearing 
the  Cross  in  the  church  of  St.  Nicolas,  where  are  also  images 
of  St.  Anne  and  St.  Joachim  from  the  Juliot  studio,  a  St. 
Bonaventure  from  the  same  source  whence  emanated  the 
adorable  statue  of  St.  Martha,  and  more  of  the  grisaille  picture- 
glass.  In  St.  Martin-es-Vignes  the  window  of  St.  Anne  (1623) 
is  attributed  to  Linard  Gontier;  in  Ste.  Sabine  are  some  painted 
wood  panels,  and  a  carved  keystone  of  great  beauty;  in  the 
hall  of  the  library  of  Troyes  are  thirty  panels  by  Linard 
Gontier,  made  in  commemoration  of  Henry  IV's  visit  in  1598. 

CHlLONS   CATHEDRAL1 

It  so  happens  that  in  most  of  our  communes  the  church  remains  the 
only  witness  of  the  olden  times  and  of  departed  generations.  It  thus  becomes 
a  symbol,  legible  for  the  humblest,  of  the  duration  of  our  race,  of  the  per- 
sistence, through  the  dead,  of  a  special  group  of  French  families  on  a  special 
corner  of  French  soil.  The  village  church  gives  the  lesson  of  lineage,  of  the 
solidarity  of  efforts,  of  the  communion  of  men. — EDMOND  BLANQUERON,  In- 
specteur  de  l'Acad6mie  de  la  Haute-Marne,  in  the  crusade  to  save  the 
churches  of  Champagne,  notably  Vignory,  one  of  the  oldest  in  France  (c. 
1050). 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1855,  1875,  and  1911,  p.  447,  the  cathedral  of  Chalons;  p. 
473,  Notre-Dame-en-Vaux;  p.  496,  St.  Alpin;  p.  512,  Notre  Dame-de-1'Epine;  E. 
Lefevre-Pontalis,  "  L-'architecture  dans  la  Champagne  meridionale  au  XIII6  et  au 
XVI"  siecle,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1902,  p.  273;  ibid.,  "  Les  caracteres  distinctifs 
des  6coles  gothiques  de  la  Champagne  et  de  la  Bourgogne,"  in  Congres  Archeologique, 
1907,  p.  546;  Louis  Demaison,  Les  eglises  de  Chdlons-sur-Marne  (Caen,  1913);  E. 
de  Barth61emy,  Diocese  ancien  de  Chdlons-sur-Marne.  Histoire  et  monuments  (Paris, 

241 


The  cathedral  of  Troyes  and  the  church  of  St.  Urbain 
belong  to  the  Champagne  school  of  Gothic,  to  which  we  have 
devoted  no  separate  chapter  because  some  of  its  monuments, 
such  as  St.  Remi  at  Rheims  and  Notre  Dame  at  Chalons, 
we  grouped  with  the  Primary  Gothic  churches,  and  the  cathe- 
dral of  Rheims  with  the  Great  Cathedrals,  classifications 
used  solely  for  greater  clarity. 

From  its  inception,  the  Gothic  of  Champagne  kept  pace 
with  the  Ile-de-France  Picard  school,  and  in  certain  charac- 
teristics even  took  the  lead  of  its  neighbor.  Gerson,  Racine, 
La  Fontaine,  Gaston  Paris,  are  among  the  sons  of  this  province 
whose  Gothic  art,  formulated  centuries  before  them,  displays 
qualities  which  embody  aspiration,  sublimity,  sanity  always 
and  just  measure,  a  singular  ease  and  grace,  patience,  and 
science. 

From  Champagne  came  the  gracious  arrangement  of  plant- 
ing slender  columns  and  stilted  arches  at  the  entrance  to 
radiating  chapels.  Champagne  was  the  first  to  use  the  pier 
composed  of  twin  columns,  first  to  employ  a  passageway 
round  the  church  at  the  level  of  the  aisle  windows,  and  to 
place  lancets  side  by  side  in  each  bay  for  the  better  lighting 
of  the  edifice.  The  region  was  conservative  in  clinging  to 
certain  Romanesque  traits,  such  as  apsidal  chapels  projecting 
from  the  eastern  wall  of  the  transept.  It  employed,  as  did 
Normandy  and  Burgundy,  a  circulation  passage  under  the 
clearstory  windows.  Champagne's  influence  spread  far  afield 
to  Sens,  Auxerre,  St.  Quentin,  St.  Denis,  Metz,  Toul,  Ipres, 
Tournai,  Avila,  Leon,  and  York.1 

Lest  these  pages  should  become  overloaded,  we  can  merely 
touch  on  the  beautiful  Champagne  cathedral  of  Chalons- 

1861),  2  vols.;  E.  Hurault,  La  cathedrale  de  Chdlons-sur-Marne  et  so,  clergt  au  Xllle 
tilde;  A.  J.  de  H.  Bushnell,  Storied  Windows,  chapter  34,  on  the  windows  of  Chalons 
(New  York,  Macmillan  Company,  1914) ;  Abbe  E.  Musset,  Notre  Dame-de-l' Epine 
pres  Chdlont-Bur-Marne.  La  Ugende,  I'histoire,  le  monument  et  le  pelerinage  (Paris, 
Champion,  1902);  Chanoine  Marsaux,  "La  prediction  de  la  sibylle  et  la  vision 
d'Auguste,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1908,  p.  235. 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1890,  Toul.  In  the  series  of  Villes  d'art  celebres,  published 
by  H.  Laurens  (Paris),  are  studies  on  Tournai,  Ipres,  and  Avila:  Henri  Guerlin,  Segovie, 
Avila,  Salamanque;  Henri  Hymans,  Gand  et  Tournai  and  Bruges  et  Ypres. 

242 


SOME  OF  THE   LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

sur-Marne,  an  old  city  which  is  another  treasure  house  of 
colored  glass.  The  most  interesting  windows  are  in  the 
small  church  of  St.  Alpin,  whose  apse  celebrates  the  Eucharist, 
the  souls  in  Purgatory,  the  Corpus  Christi  procession,  lately 
mocked  by  the  Calvinists.  Its  Manna  in  the  Desert  window 
is  a  symbol  of  the  Eucharist.  In  St.  Alpin  are  the  most 
successful  examples  of  that  distinguished  phase  of  vitrine 
art  called  camdieu — of  cameo  or  chiaroscuro  effect,  using 
brown-gray  hues,  the  yellow  of  silver-stain,  a  pale  blue  for 
the  sky,  and  an  occasional  single  touch  of  superb  ruby  red. 
One  of  the  windows  of  Raphaelesque  design  represents  St. 
Alpin,  bishop  of  Chalons,  meeting  Attila  the  Hun;  another, 
dated  1539,  is  a  rendering  of  the  Vision  of  Augustus,  a  theme 
most  popular  then. 

Peter  the  Venerable  called  Chalons  "great  and  illustri- 
ous." Guillaume  de  Champeaux,  one  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  the  age,  whose  schoolroom  was  really  the  beginning 
of  the  University  of  Paris,  was  bishop  of  Chalons  in  1115 
when  a  young  Burgundian  named  Bernard  came  to  be  con- 
secrated abbot  of  Clairvaux.  In  the  monk  of  twenty-five, 
unknown  yet  to  fame,  the  great  teacher  was  swift  to  recognize 
a  supreme  spiritual  genius.  In  1147  St.  Bernard  preached 
at  the  dedication  of  the  Romanesque  cathedral  of  Chalons 
before  Pope  Eugene  III,  who  had  been  one  of  his  own  Cis- 
tercian monks  at  Clairvaux.  The  present  tower  to  the  north 
of  the  choir  belonged  to  the  church  that  Bernard  knew.  The 
south  tower,  its  mate,  is  of  the  XIII  century.  The  placing 
of  belfries  on  either  side  of  the  choir  was  a  Rhenish  trait. 

In  1230  Chalons  Cathedral  was  wrecked  by  lightning. 
Its  reconstruction  began  with  the  choir,  under  Bishop  Pierre 
de  Nemours,  whose  brothers  were  building-prelates  at  Noyon, 
Paris,  and  Meaux.  In  1250  work  on  the  nave  was  going  on, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  century  was  built  the  transept's  excellent 
north  fagade.  The  XVII  century  erected  the  unsuitable 
neo-classic  west  frontispiece,  yet  at  the  same  time,  curiously 
enough,  the  two  westernmost  bays  were  constructed  in  per- 
fect imitation  of  Apogee  Gothic.  It  remains  an  open  question 

243 


whether  the  same  Renaissance  century  made  the  apse  chapels 
after  a  fire  in  1668.  Some  say  they  are  of  the  XIV  century, 
that  the  choir,  as  first  built,  had  no  ambulatory,  but  that 
one  was  added  soon  after,  with  radial  chapels. 

There  is  a  noble  purity  in  Chalons  Cathedral,  due  in  large 
part  to  its  soaring  monolithic  piers.  No  church  is  richer  in 
tombstones,  and  its  stained  glass  is  plenteous.  In  the  eastern 
clearstory  are  three  lovely  silver  and  blue  XHI-century 
windows;  the  north  rose  of  the  transept  is  early  XIV  century 
and  the  first  window  in  the  nave's  south  aisle  is  another  good 
example  of  that  period.  The  same  aisle  shows  a  brilliant 
XV-century  light,  ruby  red  in  effect,  and  a  window  of  1509, 
wherein  the  Blessed  Virgin's  life  is  explained  by  quaint  inscrip- 
tions. Some  Xll-century  glass  from  Chalons  Cathedral  is 
in  the  Trocadero  Museum  at  Paris. 

Just  as  Champagne  had  proved  herself  a  pioneer  in  the 
first  days  of  the  national  art,  so  she  distinguished  herself  in 
later  times  when  Rayonnant  Gothic  turned  to  Flamboyant 
art.  Among  the  few  churches  built  during  the  transition 
between  those  two  phases  is  the  cathedral-like  Notre-Dame- 
de-l'£pine,  in  the  fields  a  few  miles  from  Chalons-sur-Marne, 
a  link  connecting  St.  Urbain  at  Troyes  with  the  goodly  array 
of  Flamboyant  buildings  that  sprang  up  in  the  ancient  capital 
of  Champagne.  The  interior  proportions  of  Notre-Dame- 
de-l'l£pine  resemble  those  of  Rheims  Cathedral,  and  its  rood 
screen  recalls  the  jubS  of  the  Madeleine  church  at  Troyes. 

But  revenons  a  nostro  matiere,  as  dear  Joinville,  seneschal 
of  Champagne,  would  say.  The  reason  for  the  wealth  of 
architecture  and  its  allied  arts  and  crafts  in  the  region  of 
which  Troyes  is  the  center  was  because  the  ancient  city,  so 
unnoted  in  to-day's  activities,  lay  on  the  mediaeval  highway 
of  commerce,  and  under  its  enterprising  rulers  became  the 
scene  bi-y early  of  a  fair  to  which  all  Europe  flocked.  To 
this  day  we  use  Troy  weight.  The  counts  of  Champagne 
safeguarded  the  visiting  merchants  and  fostered  commerce 
by  wise  laws.  Their  money  passed  in  Rome  and  Venice  as 
freely  as  in  Provins  and  Troyes.  Lavish  and  art-loving 

244 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

were  the  Champagne  rulers';  one  of  them  founded  Clairvaux 
in  lower  Champagne;  another  rebuilt  the  Cistercian  church 
of  Pontigny,  just  over  the  border  in  Burgundy.  They  were 
indefatigable  crusaders,  some  of  them  winning  thrones  in 
the  East.  And  their  alliances  constantly  enriched  their  stock 
with  new  qualities,  as  when  Count  Henry  the  Magnificent 
wedded,  in  1164,  the  daughter  of  Louis  VII  by  Alienor  of 
Aquitaine.  That  Countess  Marie — the  suer  comtessa  to 
whom  her  half  brother,  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion,  addressed 
his  famous  prison  song — made  of  her  court  of  Champagne 
a  school  of  good  manners  with  all  the  ceremonial  of  the  Midi's 
cour  d'amour.  What  M.  Gaston  Paris  calls  poet-laureates' 
work,  poesie  courtoise,  became  the  vogue,  and  the  Countess 
Marie  herself  wrote  in  the  troubadour  manner.  She  encouraged 
the  best  of  the  XH-century  poets,  Crestien  de  Troyes  (d. 
1175),  suggesting  to  him  the  romances  of  the  Breton  cycle, 
Lancelot,  Tristan,  and  Percival.1  Through  Crestien  the 
story  of  the  Holy  Grail  spread  over  Europe.  In  him  the 
trouveres  new  ideals  of  chivalry  met  the  Midi's  refined 
gallantry,  and  the  Celtic  themes  which  he  versified  brought 
what  was  needed  of  passion  and  profundity. 

All  Europe  then  drew  its  poetic  inspirations  from  the  matiere 
de  France,  as  France  in  her  turn  was  enriching  herself  from 
the  inexhaustible  matiere  de  Bretagne.  The  XH-century 
French  trouveres  were  imitated  by  the  German  Minnesingers, 
by  the  early  songsters  of  England,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  and 
in  Italy  the  precursors  of  Dante  preferred  the  use  of  the 
Romance  tongues  of  France.  In  the  fecund  hour  wherein 

1  L.  Petit  de  Julleville,  Histoire  de  la  langue  et  de  la  litterature  franqaise,  dirigee  par 
(Paris,  Colin  et  Cie,  1841-1901),  8  vols.  In  vols.  1  and  2  the  Middle  Ages  are  treated 
by  Leon  Gautier,  Gaston  Paris,  and  Joseph  Bedier;  Gaston  Paris,  La  litterature 
franqaise  au  moyen  age  (Paris,  Hachette,  1890);  ibid.,  Les  origincs  de  la  poesie  lyrique 
en  France  au  moyen  age  (Paris,  1892) ;  Leon  Gautier,  Origines  et  histoire  des  epopees 
franqaises  (Paris,  V.  Palme,  1878-94),  4  vols.;  Joseph  Bedier,  Les  legends  epiques 
(Paris,  H.  Champion,  1908-13),  4  vols.;  P.  Tarbe,  Les  chansonniers  de  Champagne 
(1851);  Delaborde,  Notice  historique  sur  le  chateau  de  Joinville.  Ilaute-Marne  (Join- 
ville,  1891);  Natalis  de  Wailly,  ed.,  Jean,  sire  de  Joinville,  texte  original  accompagnc 
d'une  traduction.  Translated  into  English,  Bohns'  Antiquarian  Library,  VI,  London; 
Bouchet,  ed.,  Villehardouin  (Paris,  1891).  English  translation  by  Sir  F.  T.  Marzial 
(London,  Everyman's  Library,  1908). 

245 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

our  modern  civilization  was  conceived,  France  gave  to  the 
Western  World  her  architecture,  her  sculpture,  and  her  poetry. 
At  the  cathedral  doors  of  Verona,  Roland  and  Oliver  were 
sculpted. 

The  international  city  of  Troyes  saw  the  creation  of  the 
Templars  Order  at  her  Council  of  1128,  whither  had  come 
Hugues  de  Payns,  a  knight  related  to  the  reigning  counts. 
Taking  part  in  the  First  Crusade,  he  proved  himself  a  true 
prud'homme  in  Palestine  by  forming  a  band  of  volunteer 
knights  to  escort  unprotected  pilgrims.  At  the  Council  of 
Troyes  he  won  recognition  for  his  monk-knights.  St.  Bernard 
championed  them,  drew  up  their  rule,  and  gave  them  their 
white  robe  and  red  cross.  With  the  birth  of  the  national  art 
rose  this  great  military  Order  and  with  its  decline  it  was  stricken 
down.  When  the  lust  of  gain  replaced  aspiration,  men  no 
longer  went  crusading  or  built  cathedrals. 

The  ancient  city  of  Troyes  is  not  only  associated  with 
epic  poetry — "history  before  there  are  historians" — but  is 
linked  with  the  earliest  two  historians  who  wrote  in  the 
vernacular,  Villehardouin  and  Joinville.  "Mes  lengages  est 
buens  car  en  France  fui  nez"  boasted  the  Champagne  poet, 
who  tells  us  that  God  listened  by  preference  to  his  speech, 
since  he  had  made  it  lighter  and  better  than  any  other,  of 
more  brevity,  of  nobler  amplitude.  Villehardouin's  record  of 
the  Fourth  Crusade,  the  Conquete  de  Constantinople,  possesses 
the  same  powerful  simplicity  as  the  greatest  of  all  chansons- 
de-geste,  Roland.  He  was  born  near  Troyes,  in  whose  convents 
lived  two  of  his  daughters  and  his  two  sisters,  and  to  whose 
churches  he  left  property. 

Our  good  friend  Joinville  grew  up  in  the  cultivated  court 
of  the  Countess  Marie's  grandson,  Thibaut  IV  le  Chansonnier, 
born  in  Troyes.  Thibaut's  songs  blended  the  courteous 
poetry  of  the  troubadour  tradition  with  the  attic  salt  of  his 
own  most  civilized  Champagne.  In  his  gallant  company 
Joinville  acquired  his  good  manners  and  inimitable  mode  of 
expression. 

The  last  countess  of  this  land  of  gay  singers  and  soldier- 

246 


historians  was  Thibaut's  granddaughter,  Jeanne,  who  inspired 
Joinville  to  write  his  memoirs,  helped  to  build  Meaux  Ca- 
thedral, and  founded  the  College  of  Navarre  where  Gerson  and 
Bossuet  were  to  be  trained.  But,  alas!  the  liberal  young 
heiress  of  Champagne  married  the  legist  king  of  France, 
Phillipe  le  Bel,  the  executioner  of  the  Templars.  When  he 
struck  a  blow  at  the  international  fairs  of  Champagne  by 
persecuting  Lombards  and  Jews,  the  great  day  for  Troyes 
was  over.  When  Jeanne  d'Arc — born  on  the  confines  of 
Champagne — revived  the  nation's  pride,  the  art  traditions 
latent  in  the  citizens  of  Troyes  flowered  once  more  with 
magnificence.  Only  the  slow  accumulation  of  centuries 
could  have  produced  the  unemphatic  beauty  of  the  gracious 
St.  Martha  in  Troyes'  Flamboyant  Gothic  church  of  the 
Madeleine. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  TOURS. » 

A  religion  is  the  heart  of  a  race;  it  expresses  the  emotions  of  a  people 
and  elevates  them  by  giving  them  an  aim:  but,  unless  a  God  be  visibly 
honored,  religion  does  not  exist,  and  human  laws  are  powerless.  .  .  . 
Thought,  the  fountain  of  all  good  and  evil,  cannot  be  trained,  mastered, 
and  directed  except  by  religion,  and  the  only  possible  religion  is  Christianity, 
which  created  the  modern  world  and  will  preserve  it.  ...  France  is  being 
saved  and  lost  perpetually.  If  she  wants  to  be  saved,  indeed,  let  her  go 
back  to  the  laws  of  God. — HONORS  DE  BALZAC  (1799-1850;  born  in  Tours). 

The  cathedral  of  Tours  does  not  startle.  One  is  not  carried 
away  by  it,  at  first.  Its  charm  is  that  of  the  tranquil  horizons 


1  Chanoine  Boissonnot,  La  cathedrale  de  Tours  (Tours,  1904);  Paul  Vitry,  Tours 
et  les  chateaux  de  Touraine  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1905); 
ibid.,  Michel  Colombe  et  la  sculpture  frangaise  de  son  temps  (Paris,  1901);  Marchand  et 
Bourasse,  Verrieres  du  chceur  de  I'eglise  metropolitaine  de  Tours  (Paris,  1849),  folio; 
A.  J.  de  H.  Bushnell,  Storied  Windows,  chapter  22,  on  Tours  (New  York  and  London, 
1914);  Charles  de  Grandmaison,  Tours  archeologique  (Paris,  1879);  Abbe  Bosseboeuf, 
Tours  et  ses  monuments;  Monseigneur  Chevalier,  Promenades  pittoresques  en  Touraine 
(Tours,  1869);  Abbe  J.  J.  Bourasse,  Recherches  hist,  et  archeol.  sur  les  eglises  romanes 
en  Touraine  (1809);  L.  Courajod,  La  sculpture  Jranqaise  avant  la  Renaissance  classique 
(Paris,  1891);  Louis  Gonse,  La  sculpture  frangaise  depuis  le  XIVe  siecle  (Paris,  1895), 
folio;  Giraudet,  Histoire  de  la  ville  de  Tours  (Tours,  1873),  2  vols.;  Chalmel,  Histoire 
de  Touraine  (1841),  4  vols.;  Henri  Guerlin,  La  Touraine  (Collection,  Provinces  fran- 
caises),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  L.  Barren,  La  Loire  (Flcuves  de  France),  (Paris,  H. 
Laurens);  C.  H.  Petit-Dutaillis,  Charles  VII,  Louis  XI  et  les  premieres  annees  de 
Charles  VIII  (Paris,  Hachette,  1902). 

247 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

of  the  Loire,  fleuve  de  lumiere,  de  vie  doucement  heureuse, 
partout  de  plein  effets  de  lenteur,  d'ordre,  so  Rodin  saw  it. 
The  beauty  of  Touraine  increases  with  familiarity  because  it 
is  touched  with  that  measure,  that  justness  of  soul  inherited 
from  the  classic  spirit,  that  has  ever  tempered,  in  the  art 
manifestations  of  this  nation,  the  sublime  overimpassioned 
consistencies  of  the  Celt  and  the  lofty  overexaggerated 
dreams  of  the  Teuton. 

The  cathedral  of  Tours  does  not  aspire  to  the  impossible. 
It  is  a  rather  cold,  high-bred  church  at  one  with  its  environ- 
ment, the  gracious  garden  of  Touraine,  a  satisfying,  discreet 
church  and  most  intensely  French.  While  one  rejoices  that  a 
Robert  de  Lusarches  aspired  to  the  Infinite  at  Amiens,  one 
approves  the  architect  of  Tours  who  worked  within  human 
possibilities.  The  choir  of  the  cathedral  possesses  both  delicacy 
and  force.  Toward  its  erection  Louis  IX  granted  a  quarry 
and  some  forest  lands  near  Chinon.  The  choir  must  have 
been  nearing  its  completion  when  in  1255  the  king  visited 
Tours,  whose  archbishop,  Geoffrey  de  Martel,  had  lately  died 
a  crusader  in  Palestine. 

During  the  fifty  years  prior  to  1270  the  cathedral  was 
building.  In  1269  the  relics  of  St.  Maurice  and  his  companions 
from  Thebes,  who  were  martyred  in  Gaul  under  Diocletian, 
were  transferred  to  the  sanctuary.  Those  early  Christians 
were  the  tutelary  saints  of  Tours  Cathedral  up  to  the  XIV 
century.  Then  St.  Gatien,  the  first  to  preach  Christianity 
in  this  region,  was  chosen  as  patron.  La  Gatienne  the  people 
call  their  chief  church.  The  cult  of  the  early  missionary 
had  been  a  favorite  devotion  of  St.  Martin,  third  and  greatest 
bishop  of  Tours,  who  died  as  the  IV  century  drew  to  a  close. 

Like  Lyons,  Tours  has  eminent  ecclesiastical  memories. 
The  shrine  of  St.  Martin,  the  most  popular  saint  of  Gaul, 
made  the  city  a  frequented  pilgrimage  for  Europe.  Gregory 
of  Tours,  who  ruled  this  see  from  573  to  595,  has  described 
the  richness  of  the  Byzantine  church  that  stood  over  the  tomb 
of  the  great  thaumaturge.  Like  most  of  the  prelates  who 
saved  Latin  civilization  from  the  Barbarian's  submersion, 

248 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

Bishop  Gregory  was  of  Gallo-Roman  stock,  of  a  senatorial 
family  of  Auvergne  who  boasted  descent  from  an  early 
Christian  martyr  of  Gaul.  In  the  present  southwest  tower 
of  la  Gatienne  are  traces  of  the  Vl-century  cathedral  built  by 
this  bishop-historian  of  Gaul,  whose  pages  are  a  chief  source 
for  Merovingian  times.1 

The  city  of  Tours  always  had  two  great  monuments — the 
cathedral  within  the  ramparts,  the  basilica  of  St.  Martin 
outside  the  walls.  St.  Martin's  abbey  was  the  nation's  intel- 
lectual leader  when  the  Saxon  scholar  Alcuin  became  its  abbot 
(796-804).  He  made  of  Tours  a  Christian  Athens.  They 
buried  him  in  his  abbatial,  where  four  years  earlier  Charle- 
magne's wife,  Luitgarde,  had  been  laid.  To-day  only  two 
towers  stand  of  St.  Martin's  basilica — the  Tour  Charlemagne, 
begun  by  the  Blessed  Herve,  abbot  in  997,  hence  one  of  the 
oldest  memorials  of  the  rebirth  of  architecture  associated  with 
the  year  1000,  and  a  former  facade  tower  mainly  of  the  XII 
century.  One  of  the  busiest  streets  of  Tours  runs  up  what 
once  was  the  nave  of  the  abbatial,  but,  not  discouraged,  the 
people  of  Touraine  have  erected  a  new  Byzantinesque  basilica 
of  St.  Martin  on  the  site  of  the  transept's  southern  arm. 
Those  two  tragic  frenzies  of  forgetfulness,  1562,  that  scattered 
St.  Martin's  ashes — for  which  St.  Eloi,  bishop-goldsmith  of 
Noyon,  had  made  a  priceless  reliquary — and  1793,  that  laid 
in  ruins  his  church  in  Tours  and  Marmoutier's  Apogee  Gothic 
abbatial  that  marked  the  rock-hewn  cells  where  he  had  lived  a 
hermit  across  the  Loire,  those  two  blind  hours  when  men 
thought  to  erect  barriers  between  themselves  and  their 
past,  destroyed  monuments  which,  did  they  exist  still,  would 
rank  Tours,  architecturally,  among  the  first  cities  of  Europe. 
St.  Martin's  church,  built  by  Herve,  became  a  monument- 

1  Behind  the  choir  of  Tours  Cathedral,  in  the  Place  Gregoire  de  Tours,  a  veritable 
nook  of  the  Middle  Ages,  are  XH-century  vestiges  of  the  Episcopal  Palace,  a  mansion 
of  the  XV  century,  and  near  by  is  the  rue  de  la  Psalette,  in  which  Balzac  set  the  scene 
of  his  Cure  de  Tours.  Why  has  not  Tours  named  her  chief  square  and  residential 
street  for  Balzac,  her  own  son,  instead  of  for  Emile  Zola?  Balzac's  sister  has  told  of 
the  profound  impression  made  on  him  by  the  cathedral  of  Tours,  especially  by  its 
marvels  of  stained  gkss,  so  that  all  through  the  novelist's  life  the  mere  name.  "St. 
Gatien"  had  the  power  to  rouse  him  to  the  dreams  and  aspirations  of  his  youth. 

249 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

type?  copied  by  Ste.  Foi,  Congnes,  St.  Martial,  Limoges,  St. 
Sernin,  Toulouse,  and  the  cathedral  at  Santiago. 

It  is  said  that  twenty  centuries  of  human  effort  are  repre- 
sented by  the  stones  of  Tours  Cathedral.2  In  the  base  of  its 
fagade  towers  are  remains  of  the  city's  Ill-century  walls, 
which  had  been  constructed  in  their  turn  with  the  big  stones 
stolen  from  the  local  Roman  temples  of  50  B.C.  For  sixteen 
centuries  Mass  has  been  said  on  this  site.  In  the  southwest 
tower  are  vestiges  of  Gregory  of  Tours'  Vl-century  church, 
and  in  the  northwest  tower  traces  of  the  Romanesque  ca- 
thedral on  which  worked  the  philosopher  and  theologian, 
Hildebert  de  Lavardin,  the  most  popular  poet  of  his  age  and 
one  of  the  builders  of  Le  Mans  Cathedral  before  promoted 
to  be  Tours'  sixty-fourth  archbishop  (1125-34).  In  refut- 
ing Berengar,  a  canon  of  Tours,  who  taught  a  confused  doctrine 
concerning  the  Eucharist,  Bishop  Hildebert  was  the  first  to 
use  the  term  "  transubstantiation "  in  its  theological  sense. 
It  is  said  that  the  custom  of  elevating  the  Host  in  the  Mass 
resulted  from  the  eucharistic  controversies  started  by  Berengar. 

In  1167  a  fire,  caused  by  a  quarrel  over  crusaders'  treasure, 
between  Louis  VII  and  Henry  II  Plantagenet,  destroyed 
the  Romanesque  cathedral  of  Tours.  Bishop  Joscion,  who 
died  in  1173,  planned  to  construct  a  Plantagenet  Gothic 
church,  since  Touraine  was  in  large  part  under  Angevin 


1  R.  de  Lasteyrie,  L'eglise  St.  Martin  de  Tours  (Paris,  1891) ;  Monsuyer,  Hiaioire 
dc  I'abbaye  de  St.  Martin;  Henri  Martin,  Saint-Martin  (Collection,  L'art  et  Jes  saints), 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens);  Ed.  Chevalier,  Histoire  de  Vabbaye  de  Marmoutier  (Tours,  1871), 
2  vols.  There  are  papers  on  the  church  of  St.  Julien  de  Tours  in  the  Memoires  de 
la  Soc.  archeol.  de  Touraine,  1909,  p.  13,  and  on  St.  Martin  de  Tours,  1907;  also  in 
the  Bulletin  Monumental,  1873,  p.  830,  on  St.  Symphorien  de  Tours.  The  abbatial 
of  St.  Julien,  a  contemporary  of  Tours  Cathedral,  is  exceptionally  pure  Gothic.  Its 
tower  is  Romanesque  and  in  part  dates  before  1000. 

1  Many  a  Council  has  been  held  in  Tours.  In  1055  came  Gregory  VII,  the  reformer. 
In  1095  Urban  II  preached  the  First  Crusade,  and  dedicated  a  Romanesque  abbatial 
at  Marmoutier.  In  1107  Pope  Paschal  II  came,  in  1119  Calixtus  II,  in  1134  Innocent 
II,  and  Alexander  III  in  1163.  At  the  Council  of  1163  the  new  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, Thomas  Becket,  pleaded  for  St.  Anselm's  canonization,  and  the  builder  of 
Lisieux  Cathedral,  the  politic  Arnoul,  delivered  an  address  that  urged  the  unity  and 
liberty  of  the  Church;  yet  later  he  upheld  Henry  II  in  his  dispute  with  St.  Thomas 
Becket.  Tours  can  even  boast  a  pope,  for  Martin  IV  (d.  1285)  had  long  been  a  canon 
in  St.  Martin's  abbey. 

250 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

control,  and  to  the  church  he  began  belongs  the  graceful 
bombe  vault  borne  on  eight  slender  branches  beneath  the 
northwest  tower.  In  1191  Richard  Coeur-de-Lion  came  to 
his  city  of  Tours  to  receive  the  crusaders'  insignia  before 
his  venture  to  the  East.  His  ransom  drained  the  land  of 
building  funds.  For  that  cause  or  another,  the  projected 
work  at  Tours  languished.  The  actual  choir  was  begun  only 
about  1210,  when  the  city  had  become  a  part  of  the  royal 
domain,  and  its  new  master  Philippe-Auguste  wrote  that 
he  held  the  church  of  Tours  to  be  one  of  the  chief  jewels  of 
his  crown,  and  that  whosoever  molested  it  touched  his  (the 
king's)  person. 

We  do  not  know  who  was  the  original  architect  of  la  Gatienne. 
Etienne  de  Mortagne,  who  designed  the  Benedictine  church 
at  Marmoutier,  is  mentioned,  in  1269,  as  master-of- works 
at  the  cathedral,  but  by  that  time  its  choir  was  completed. 
That  choir,  while  making  no  pretense  of  being  sublime,  is  a 
monument  of  noble  robustness,  displaying  within  and  with- 
out the  veriest  genius  of  good  taste.  The  vista  closing  the 
eastern  end  of  the  church  is  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  in 
France,  owing  to  its  right  proportion.  In  this,  Tours  derives 
directly  from  Amiens.  Its  pier  arcade  comprises  one- third 
of  the  interior  wall  elevation;  and  the  triforium  and  clear- 
story make  up  the  other  two-thirds — clearstory  being  double 
the  height  of  triforium.  At  Tours  the  relation  of  span  and 
height  is  admirable,  and  both  are  well  correlated  with  length. 
Seen  in  perspective  down  the  nave,  the  three  stories  of  colored 
glass  around  the  sanctuary  are  the  supreme  impression  of 
this  church  interior,  and  seldom  does  one  pass  from  its  west 
portal  without  turning  back  for  a  lingering  look  at  that  har- 
monious chevet  of  consecrated  light.  Through  the  pier 
arches  can  be  seen  symmetrically  the  windows  of  the  apse 
chapels.  The  design  of  the  glazed  triforium  is  excelled  by 
no  other  in  France;  though  serving  as  a  kind  of  pedestal  for 
the  upper  lights,  it  retains  its  own  entity. 

When  the  choir  of  Tours  was  completed,  the  builders  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  erect  the  transept  which,  the  stones  them- 

251 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

• 

selves  say,  must  have  been  finished  as  the  XIII  century 
closed.  The  nave's  easternmost  bays  touching  it  belong  to 
the  first  years  of  the  next  century,  as  do  the  two  rose  windows 
of  the  transept.  The  northern  rose  is  irreproachable  in 
design  and  of  the  same  scintillating  jewel  tradition  as  XIII- 
century  glass. 

The  Hundred  Years'  War,  here  as  elsewhere,  checked  build- 
ing activities.  When  they  were  resumed  at  Tours,  happily 
the  first  plans  were  adhered  to,  so  that  choir  and  nave  are 
homogeneous.  As  the  church  advanced  toward  the  west,  the 
window  tracery  changed  from  Rayonnant  to  Flamboyant, 
the  profiles  grew  prismatic,  and  the  sculpture  of  the  capitals 
became  naturalistic  rather  than  an  architectural  interpreta- 
tion of  foliage.  The  nave  was  made  narrower  than  the  choir, 
probably  with  the  intention  of  joining  it  to  the  XII-century 
facade.  Of  the  four  triumphal  piers  at  the  transept-crossing, 
the  two  westernmost  ones  stand  closer  together  than  those 
flanking  the  choir,  whose  spacious  procession  path  causes 
the  side  aisles  of  the  nave  to  appear  meager. 

What  might  seem  an  overreasonableness  in  the  architecture 
of  Tours  metropolitan  church  is  offset  by  the  glory  of  its 
jeweled  windows.  Between  1260  and  1270  the  choir's  upper 
lights  were  placed,  and  considering  their  date,  they  are  excep- 
tional in  still  being  of  the  legend-medallions  type  rather  than 
large  single  figures.  Blue  is  set  in  greenish  white  with  good 
effect,  contrasting  happily  with  certain  contemporary  win- 
dows at  Paris,  where  the  juxtaposition  of  blue  and  red  produced 
melancholy  purple.  The  joyous  sparkling  tone  of  Tours' 
lights  proves  a  skillful  use  of  pot-metal  yellow.  More  care 
was  taken  to  tell  the  legends  plainly  than  to  put  borders 
round  each  medallion. 

The  glass  of  Tours  belongs  to  the  Paris  school,  though 
made,  doubtless,  by  local  workers.  Were  a  floor  laid  below 
the  triforium  of  the  choir,  its  fifteen  upper  windows,  composing 
a  veritable  pavilion  of  glass,  would  be  almost  a  replica  of  the 
Sainte-Chapelle,  and  one  recalls  that  it  was  Archbishop  Odo 
of  Tours  who  on  April  25,  1248,  dedicated  for  St.  Louis  his 

252 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

new  shrine  at  Paris.  The  donors  of  Tours'  great  windows 
were  churchmen  and  laymen,  the  lowly  and  the  mighty. 
Bishop  Geoffrey  de  Loudon,  builder  of  Le  Mans'  glorious 
choir,  presented  a  light,  as  did  Tours'  own  prelate  and  a 
group  of  parish  priests.  Small  craftsmen  were  donors,  drapers, 
and  day  laborers,  and  of  course  Queen  Blanche's  donjons  of 
Castile  are  to  be  seen.  Her  window,  devoted  to  St.  James, 
the  patron  of  Spain,  is  splendid  in  hue. 

The  fourth  clearstory  window  on  the  north  excels  in  color 
harmony.  They  call  it  the  Adam  window,  after  the  first  tiller 
of  the  soil.  It  was  presented  by  plowmen,  and  relates  their 
field  labors  as  well  as  the  story  of  Genesis.  On  one  side  of 
the  central  light  of  the  clearstory  is  a  dazzling  Tree  of  Jesse, 
the  gift  of  a  furrier  and  his  wife.  Next  to  it  is  a  window 
devoted  to  St.  Martin,  whose  story  is  told  again,  in  the  late 
XHI-century  glass  of  an  apse  chapel.  More  French  churches 
have  been  dedicated  to  St.  Martin  than  to  any  other  patron 
save  Notre  Dame.  The  windows  of  the  sanctuary  north  of 
the  axis  chapel,  though  mixed  in  design,  excel  all  others  in 
exquisite  color,  being  composed  of  fragments  from  St.  Martin's 
abbatial  reset  here.  The  New  Alliance  window  in  the  Lady 
chapel  has  medallions  of  Christ  bearing  His  Cross  and  the 
Crucifixion  accompanied  by  such  symbols  and  prefigurings  as 
Elisha  resuscitating  the  child,  Jonah  issuing  from  the  whale's 
jaws,  the  brazen  serpent,  and  Moses  striking  the  rock. 

All  the  world  was  a  symbol  to  the  men  of  those  Ages  of 
Faith.  The  interlinked  petals  of  the  transept's  northern  rose 
meet  in  a  symbol  of  the  Divinity — a  knot  without  beginning 
or  end — the  forma  universal  visioned  by  Dante.  There  are 
Frenchmen  who  think  that  the  splendid  rose  windows  in  their 
Gothic  cathedrals  suggested  to  the  exile  of  Florence  his  con- 
ception of  the  empyrean.  Heaven  as  Dante  visioned  it  had 
neither  roof  of  gold  nor  pillars  of  jasper,  but  was  an  expanded, 
supernal,  white  rose. 

Once  the  nave  of  Tours  Cathedral  was  filled  with  late- 
Gothic  windows,  but  storms  wrecked  many  of  them.  Some 
of  its  glass  has  been  set  in  a  line  of  lights  beneath  the  transept's 

253 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

north  rose,  XV-century  panels  representing  members  of  the 
Bourbon  Vendome  family,  that  was  to  mount  the  French 
throne  with  Henry  IV.  Jean  Fouquet  might  have  drawn 
them.  Under  the  XVI-century  rose  in  the  west  fagade  is 
another  row  of  windows  containing  good  portraits  of  art 
patrons  as  munificent  as  the  Bourbons — the  Laval-Mont- 
morency  family.  All  over  France  we  find  them  as  donors  of 
beautiful  things. 

The  hour  when  Tours  was  an  individual  leader  in  art  came 
during  the  late-Gothic  development.1  Then  was  finished  the 
cathedral's  nave,  chapter  house,  library,  cloister,  and  the 
psaltery  with  its  pretty  Renaissance  stair.  The  cathedral 
canons,  Messires  de  la  Gatienne,  sacrificed  a  forest  for  the 
nave's  overroof.  The  elaborate  Flamboyant  fagade  was  set 

1  Such  is  the  architectural  wealth  within  reach  of  Tours  that  one  can  draw  but  a 
few  monuments  to  the  traveler's  attention.  At  Amboise  is  St.  Hubert's  marvelously 
sculptured  little  chapel  (c.  1491)  and  the  church  of  St.  Florentin  (c.  1445).  At  Loches 
is  Anne  of  Brittany's  oratory,  a  Virgin  statue  of  Michel  Colombe's  school  of  Tours, 
and  the  tomb  of  Agnes  Sorel,  attributed  to  the  master  who  made  Souvigny's  ducal 
tomb,  Jacques  Morel.  The  collegiate  church  of  St.  Ours  is  of  exceptional  interest 
to  archseologists;  its  narthex  (now  the  first  bay),  covered  by  a  tower,  was  built  by 
Fulk  II  of  Anjou;  the  porch,  also  with  a  tower  over  it,  was  added  in  the  XII  century. 
To  that  date  belong  the  two  bays  of  the  church  covered  by  hollow  pyramids,  said 
by  Mr.  A.  Kingsley  Porter  to  be  an  attempt  to  make  a  stone  roof  without  wooden 
centering.  At  Beaulieu-les-Loches,  founded  by  Fulk  Nerra,  the  choir  is  late-Gothic 
(1440-1540).  At  St.  Catherine  de  Fierbois,  where  Jeanne  d'Arc  found  her  sword, 
is  a  charming  Flamboyant  Gothic  church.  There  are  Plantagenet  Gothic  vaults 
at  Chinon.  Nine  miles  from  Chinon,  at  Champigny-sur-Veude,  is  a  rich  mass  of 
Renaissance  glass  attributed  to  Pinagrier,,with  Bourbon-Montpensier  portraits. 

Some  twenty  miles  from  Blois  is  the  Romanesque  church  of  Fleury  Abbey  at  St. 
Benoit-sur-Loire,  with  a  superb  Xl-century  narthex  of  three  bay.s,  surmounted  by  a 
tower.  In  1562  the  Huguenots  wrecked  the  church.  Also,  between  Orleans  and 
Nevers,  beside  Sancerre,  is  the  abbey  church  of  St.  Satur,  a  forerunner  of  Flamboyant 
Gothic,  as  early  as  1361.  The  Benedictine  church  of  La  Charite-sur-Loire  derives 
chiefly  from  the  Burgundian  Romanesque  school,  influenced  by  Berry  and  Auvergne. 
Its  central  and  west  towers,  its  nave,  and  chevet  belong  to  the  second  half  of  the  XII 
century;  the  transept  is  earlier;  there  was  a  reconstruction  of  the  nave  after  1559. 

Louis  Serbat,  "La  Charite-sur-Loire,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1913,  p.  374; 
Abbe  Bossebceuf,  Amboise.  For  Loches,  see  Congres  Archeol.,  1869,  1910;  G.  Rigault, 
Orleans  et  le  val  de  Loire  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres) ;  F.  Bournon,  Blois,  Cham- 
bord  et  les  chateaux  du  Bttsois  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres);  A.  Marignan,  "Une 
visite  a  1'abbaye  de  Fleury  a  St.  Benoit-sur-Loire,"  in  Revue  de  I' art  chretien,  1901-02, 
p.  291;  L.  Cloquet  et  J.  Casier,  "Excursion  de  la  Gilde  de  St.  Thomas  et  de  St.  Luc 
dans  la  Maine,  la  Touraine,  et  1'Anjou,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1889-90,  vols.  42,  43; 
La  Touraine  artistique  et  monumental;  Amboise  (Tours,  Pericet,  1899);  Sir  Theodore 
Andreas  Cook,  Twenty-fine  Great  Houses  of  France  (New  York  and  London,  1916). 

254 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

up.  Jean  Papin  was  its  architect,  and  Jean  de  Dammartin, 
fresh  from  Le  Mans'  transept,  worked  on  it.  It  was  begun 
under  Archbishop  Philippe  de  Coetquis  (1427-41),  one  of 
the  learned  men  whom  Charles  VII  summoned  to  interrogate 
Jeanne  d'Arc.  He  pronounced  her  entirely  sincere. 

In  Tours  Cathedral,  April,  1429,  knelt  St.  Jeanne  for  a 
solemn  benediction  before  she  went  forth  to  accomplish  her 
feat  at  Orleans.  An  artist  of  Tours  made  for  her  the  banner 
she  loved  better  than  her  sword.  When  Tours  heard  that 
she  was  taken  prisoner,  public  prayers  were  ordered  and  a 
procession  marched  with  bare  feet,  in  penitential  intercession 
for  her  deliverance.  Charles  VII  had  been  married  in  Tours 
to  his  cousin  Marie  of  Anjou,  who  was,  says  the  modern  student, 
more  his  incentive  to  patriotism  than  Agnes  Sorel.  The  son 
of  Charles,  Louis  XI,  also  was  married  in  the  cathedral  of 
Tours,  and  preferred  to  live  in  the  environs  of  the  ancient 
ecclesiastic  city. 

Under  the  saintly  Archbishop  Robert  de  Lenoncourt, 
installed  here  in  1488,  were  finished  Tours'  western  portals. 
Their  foliage  is  tormented,  serrated,  and  deeply  undercut, 
almost  too  prodigally  and  delicately  sculptured  for  an  exterior 
decoration.  The  entranceways  are  to-day  shorn  of  their 
imagery,  the  statues  having  been  shattered  in  1562.  In  the 
Renaissance  day  the  fagade's  twin  towers  were  gracefully 
topped;  deux  beaux  bijoux,  Henry  IV  called  the  belfries  of 
Tours. 

Throughout  the  Loire  region  an  astounding  number  of 
monuments  rose  during  the  last  half  of  the  XV  century  and 
the  early  part  of  the  XVI.  Tours  was  the  foyer  for  a  school 
of  sculpture  that  spread  to  Le  Mans,  Angers,  Nantes,  Poitiers, 
and  Bourges.  From  1480  to  1512  the  school  of  the  Region- 
of-the-Loire,  as  M.  Paul  Vitry  calls  it,  was  at  its  prime.  It 
culminated  in  the  ducal  tomb  at  Nantes  and  the  entombments 
at  Solesmes.  Dijon,  the  leader  of  the  first  half  of  the  XV 
century,  benefited  Tours  by  its  realism,  and  the  Italian  artists, 
gathered  here  in  the  dawn  of  the  foreign  Renaissance  in 
France,  contributed  certain  qualities.  But  the  art  of  Michel 

£55 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Colombo  is  predominatingly  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  a  product 
of  Touraine,  a  measured,  contained,  and  charming  art,  de 
pur  esprit  frangais.  Colombe  simplified  the  draperies  of 
the  Franco-Flamand  school  and  eschewed  the  Dijon  rough- 
ness. His  grace  is  never  petty,  however,  nor  his  idealism 
conventional.  As  the  XVI  century  opened  he  made,  in  his 
Tours  studio,  the  statues  for  the  ducal  tomb  at  Nantes.  In 
1509  his  nephew,  Guillaume  Regnault,  sculptured  the  recum- 
bent images  of  the  children  of  Anne  of  Brittany  and  Charles 
VIII  for  the  sarcophagus,  now  in  the  cathedral  of  Tours, 
the  base  of  which  was  covered  with  arabesques  by  Jerome 
of  Fiesole.  Colombe's  contemporary,  Jehan  Fouquet,  a  son 
of  Tours,  delighted  in  painting  the  regional  types.  He  dec- 
orated the  walls  of  Notre-Dame-la-RicJie,  but  his  work  is 
lost,  though  some  of  the  dazzling  Renaissance  windows  of 
that  late-Gothic  church  of  Tours  have  survived.  A  certain 
Jean  Clouet  emigrated  from  Brussels  to  Tours  in  those  days, 
and  his  son  and  grandson,  born  by  the  Loire,  are  two  .of  the 
French  primitifs  whose  work  the  traveler  does  not  care  to 
miss  in  any'  gallery  that  can  boast  their  Holbein-like  can- 
vases. During  the  Revolution,  plans  were  afoot  to  destroy 
the  cathedral  of  Tours,  but  two  artists  of  the  city  (so  loyal 
through  centuries  to  art  interests)  risked  their  lives  to  save 
their  noble  Gothic  church. 

THE   CATHEDRAL  OF  LYONS.1 

What  Christian  does  not  approach  with  veneration  this  city  that  was 
in  France  the  cradle  of  the  true  religion,  and  where  amid  persecutions  and 
tortures  rose  for  the  first  time  the  Cross  of  Christ?  Who  does  not  tread 
with  veneration  the  soil  impregnated  with  the  blood  of  so  many  martyrs 
and  forever  consecrated  by  the  glories  of  a  see  that  justly  claims  the  title 
Primate  of  Gaul? — CHARLES  DE  MONTALEMBERT,  visiting  Lyons  in  1831. 

1  Lucien  Begule  et  C.  Guigue,  Monographic  de  la  cathedrale  de  Lyon  (Lyon,  1880); 
Lucien  Begule,  La  cathedrale  de  Lyon  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris, 
II.  Laurens);  ibid.,  Lcs  vitraux  du  moycn  age  et  de  la  Renaissance  dans  la  region  lyon- 
naise  (Lyon,  A.  Rey  et  Cie,  1911);  ibid.,  Les  incrustations  decoratives  des  cathedrales 
de  Lyon  el  de  Vienne  (Lyon,  1905) ;  H.  Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artistique  et  monumentale, 
vol.  3,  p.  80,  C.  Guigue;  £mile  Male,  L'art  rcligieux  du  Xllle  siecle,  pp.  52-59,  on  the 
glass  of  Lyons  Cathedral;  Congres  Archcologique,  1907,  p.  527,  on  St.  Martin  d'Ainay; 
Abbe  Martin,  Hitstoire  des  eglises  et  chapcllcs  de  Lyon  (1909);  Andre  Steyert,  Nouvelle 

256 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

In  its  early  Christian  memories  Lyons  outrivals  all  other 
cities  of  France.  It  claims  a  clear  apostolic  tradition,  and 
boasts  that,  next  to  Rome,  it  shed  most  Christian  blood 
witnessing  to  the  planting  of  the  Cross.  And  modern  Lyons 
is  the  center  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith, 
which  sends  forth  to  non-Christian  lands  more  missionaries 
than  any  other  group  in  western  Christendom — apostles 
who  obey  the  mandate  given  to  Lyons'  first  martyr-bishops: 
Go,  teach  ye  all  nations,  baptizing  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Imperial  Rome,  that  foreshadowed  many  things,  chose  Lyons, 
before  the  birth  of  Christ,  as  starting  point  for  her  network 
of  highways  and  aqueducts  over  Gaul.  Augustus  made  it 
the  capital  of  Celtic  Gaul.  It  was  the  bishop  of  Smyrna, 
St.  Polycarp  (d.  A.D.  166),  the  disciple  of  St.  John  the  Beloved 
(d.  A.D.  100),  who  sent  the  first  two  bishops  of  Lyons  to 
Christianize  Gaul,  Pothinus  (d.  A.D.  177),  an  Asiatic  Greek, 
and  Irenseus  (d.  A.D.  202),  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
writers  of  the  early  Christian  era,  lettered  in  Greek  literature 
and  writing  in  Greek.  With  profound  knowledge  of  Christian 
doctrine,  he  advocated,  for  the  guidance  of  the  Church,  tra- 
dition, or  the  spoken  word  of  the  Apostles,  as  well  as  their 
written  word.  Often  with  just  pride  did  Irenseus  boast  that 
his  doctrine  came  direct  from  the  contemporaries  of  the 
Saviour:  "I  could  describe  to  you  the  very  spot  where  the 
blessed  Polycarp  sat  when  he  preached  God's  word.  .  .  .  His 
discourse  to  the  people  is  engraved  in  my  heart.  He  had 
talked  with  John  and  the  others  who  saw  the  Lord." 

For  twenty  years  St.  Irenseus  served  as  priest  in  Lyons 
under  Bishop  Pothinus,  and  then  when  that  holy  prelate,  at 
ninety  years  of  age,  was  martyred  during  the  persecutions  of 


hisloire  de  Lyon  .  .  .  (Lyon,  Bernoux  et  Camin,  1895),  3  vols.;  Mcynis,  Grands 
souvenirs  de  Veglise  de  Lyon  (Lyon,  1886);  Charletz,  Histoire  de  Lyon  (Lyon,  1902); 
Hcfcle,  History  of  the  Christian  Councils,  12  vols.;  H.  d'Hcnnezel,  Lyon  (Collection, 
Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  Leon  Maitre,  "Les  premieres  basiliques 
de  Lyon  et  leurs  cryptes,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1900,  p.  445;  Henri  Focillon,  Le 
Musee  de  Lyon  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  L.  Barron,  Le  Rhone  (Collection,  Fleuves  de 
France),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens). 

257 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  Christians  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  Irenseus  went  to  Rome 
to  be  consecrated  primatfe  of  Gaul  in  his  place.  When  the 
pagan  judge  asked  Pothinus  who  was  the  Christians'  God, 
the  aged  man  made  answer:  "Merit  him  and  you  will  know 
him."  For  twenty  years,  till  his  death  in  202,  St.  Irenseus 
evangelized  the  country  with  such  success  that  Lyons  was 
almost  a  Christian  city  when  the  persecution  of  Septimus 
Severus  broke  out.  Then  followed  evil  days  when  the  streets 
of  Lyons  ran  red  with  blood,  and  her  learned  bishop  perished 
with  nineteen  thousand  Christian  martyrs. 

During  the  first  persecution,  in  177,  the  Christians  of  the 
city  wrote  a  famous  letter  describing  how  forty-eight  of  their 
number  were  tortured  day  after  day  in  the  Roman  Forum 
of  Lyons,  till  even  the  pagans  allowed  that  never  a  woman 
had  suffered  so  much  and  so  long  as  the  fragile  slave  Blandina. 
The  letter  of  "  the  servitors  of  Christ  who  inhabit  Vienne  and 
Lyons  in  Gaul,  to  the  brothers  of  Asia  and  Phrygia  who 
partake  of  our  Faith  and  our  hope  in  the  Redemption,"  is 
not  only  an  historical  document,  precious  for  Lyons,  but, 
as  Renan  said,  is  "one  of  the  most  extraordinary  pages  that 
any  literature  possesses."1 

The  hill  of  Fourviere  looms  over  the  scene  of  the  martyr- 
doms, the  forum  vetus,  the  forum  of  Trajan,  which  gave  its 
name  to  the  neighboring  eminence  to  which  many  generations 
have  come  as  to  a  pilgrimage  shrine.  On  the  flank  of  the  hill  a 
hospice  marks  where  St.  Pothinus  breathed  his  last.  The 
sumptuous  new  basilica  that  stands  on  the  crest  of  the  hill 
beside  an  ancient  chapel,  now  its  annex,  persistently  dominates 
the  old,  gray  city.  Lyons  fulfilled  its  war  vow  of  1870  by  the 
erection  of  this  church  wherein  are  strange  echoes  of  Greek, 
Sicilian,  Byzantine,  and  Gothic  art  that  surely  will  make 
archaeologists  in  the  far  future  wonder  at  much  in  our  civili- 
zation. On  its  walls  the  city's  proud  apostolic  traditions  are 
set  forth  in  mosaics. 


'Paul  Allard,  Histoire  des  persecutions  (Paris,  1892),  5  vols.;  Histoire  litteraire  de 
la  France,  vol.  1,  pp.  290,  324,  on  St.  Irenseus  and  the  churches  of  Lyons  and  Vienne 
(Paris,  1733). 

258 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

Equally  venerated  is  the  ancient  church  of  St.  Martin 
d'Ainay  which  marks  the  holy  ground  where  many  of  the 
martyrs  were  slaughtered  at  the  confluence  of  the  Saone  and 
the  Rhone.  There  once  had  stood  the  temple  of  the  sixty 
nations  of  Gaul  consecrated  to  the  glory  of  Augustus.  Haunted 
by  imperial  visions,  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena  suggested  that 
his  burial  site  be  where  the  Rhone  met  the  Saone.  No  city  is 
more  nobly  girdled  than  Lyons.  From  the  altar  to  Augustus 
came  the  four  pillars  at  the  transept  crossing  of  St.  Martin's; 
two  lofty  classic  columns  were  cut  in  two  to  make  them. 
The  Burgundian  queen,  Brunehaut,  of  tragic  memory,  rebuilt 
Ainay's  original  oratory  over  the  Christian  martyrs'  bones, 
and  founded  the  monastery  which  is  one  of  the  oldest  in 
France.  In  the  course  of  time  it  became  affiliated  with  the 
world-power,  Cluny.  The  present  church  of  St.  Martin  was 
blessed  in  1106  by  Paschal  II,  who  on  this  same  journey  had 
dedicated  various  new  basilicas  in  northern  Italy.  In  the 
XII  and  XIII  centuries  St.  Martin's  outer  aisles  were  added. 
The  crypt  under  the  chapel  of  Ste.  Blandine  is  not  later  than 
the  V  century.  A  contemporary  of  St.  Martin's  is  the  little 
Romanesque  building  touching  the  cathedral's  fagade,  the 
Manfaanterie  (to  sing  in  the  morning).1  Originally  it  formed 
the  outer  wall  of  a  gallery  of  the  cloister. 

The  cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  faces  the  hill  of 
Fourviere  and  its  apse  overlooks  the  Saone.  The  Baptist  was 

1  The  church  of  St.  Nizier  also  possessed  a  manecanterie  in  which  Alphonse  Daudet, 
as  Le  Petit  Chose,  spent  some  happy  years.  Another  romance  based  on  reality  whose 
scene  is  Lyons  is  Rene  Bazin's  I'lsolee.  An  ancient  crypt  under  St.  Nizier,  shaped 
like  a  Greek  cross,  dedicated  to  St.  Pothin  since  the  IV  century,  has  been  ruined  by 
restorations;  the  actual  church  is  Rayonnant  and  Flamboyant  Gothic,  with  a  portal 
of  the  Renaissance  by  a  son  of  Lyons,  Philibert  Delorme  (d.  1570).  Jean  Perreal 
was  also  born  here,  as  was  Coysevox,  who  made  the  Virgin  of  St.  Nizier  (1676).  Emi- 
nence in  religious  or  idealistic  mural  painting  has  been  attained  by  two  sons  of  Lyons, 
Puvis  de  Chavannes  (1824-98),  who  decorated  the  Museum  with  Le  Bois  Sacre,  and 
Flandrin  (1809-64),  who  frescoed  the  walls  of  St.  Martin  d'Ainay.  Meissonier 
(d.  1891)  was  born  here;  so  was  Ampere,  scientist  and  Christian  believer  (d.  1836). 
In  the  hospital  of  fifteen  thousand  free  beds  which  opened  its  doors  in  the  VI  century 
and  has  never  since  closed  them,  worked  a  loved  physician  who  was  father  of  Frederic 
Ozanam,  the  founder  of  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  St.  Vincent's  heart  is 
treasured  in  a  chapel  of  the  cathedral.  Another  of  the  leaders  of  the  Catholic  reform, 
St.  Francis  de  Sales,  died  in  Lyons  in  1622. 

259 


the  first  teacher  of  St.  John  Evangelist  to  whom  the  city 
traces  its  Christianity.  A  preceding  Romanesque  cathedral, 
building  in  1084  and  completed  by  1117,  was  destroyed 
during  disorders  between  the  two  warring  local  authorities, 
the  archbishop  and  the  counts  of  Forez.  Lyons  for  a  time 
was  under  the  titular  jurisdiction  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
but  to  all  intents  and  purposes  was  a  free  city  with  well  de- 
veloped communal  rights.  While  the  Romanesque  cathedral 
was  building,  St.  Anselm  of  Canterbury  passed  sixteen  months 
in  Lyons  as  guest  of  Archbishop  Hugues. 

The  present  cathedral  was  undertaken  by  Archbishop 
Guichard  (1165-80),  and  in  its  foundation  walls  were  incor- 
porated some  of  the  polished  stones  from  the  forum  of  Trajan, 
hallowed  by  the  martyrs'  blood.  So  thick  were  the  apse 
walls  made  that  flying  buttresses  were  never  needed.  The 
windows  were  set  in  deep  embrasures.  The  absence  of  an 
ambulatory,  and  the  flat  roof,  are  reminders  that  this  city 
neighbors  the  Midi.  The  cathedral's  apse,  as  seen  from 
across  the  Sa6ne,  is  admirable.  Over  the  arms  of  the  tran- 
sept are  towers  whose  breadth  indicates  that  the  tower  of 
St.  Martin  d'Ainay  created  a  school  in  the  district.  In  com- 
parison with  the  transept  towers,  the  western  belfries  of  the 
cathedral  appear  meager. 

The  nave  of  Lyons  rises  twenty-five  feet  above  the  choir, 
and,  furthermore,  is  covered  by  an  inappropriate  high-pitched 
roof.  Within  the  church,  the  difference  in  height  between 
the  two  main  parts  has  been  gracefully  veiled  by  piercing, 
in  the  flat  wall  over  the  triumphal  arch  of  the  choir,  a  rose 
window  and  two  lancets.  In  size  this  church  may  be  modest, 
but  its  sincere,  grave  dignity  is  such  that  the  impression 
conveyed  is  that  of  a  very  great  cathedral.  The  nave  derived 
from  the  north.  The  choir  emanated  from  the  south,  and  its 
creamy,  sculptured  marbles  and  Greco-Italian  incrustations 
compose  an  interior  of  sober  elegance,  the  peer  of  any  sanctuary 
in  the  land.  A  unique  feature  in  France  is  Lyons'  incrus- 
tations— patterns  cut  in  white  marble  and  filled  in  with  a 
reddish-brown  cement — found  only  here  and  in  the  cathedral 

26Q 


SOME  OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

of  Vienne.1  St.  Sophia  in  Constantinople  first  used  the 
decoration,  which  was  imported  into  Italy  and  thence  passed 
up  the  Rhone. 

The  choir  of  Lyons'  Cathedral,  up  to  its  vault-springing, 
is  Romanesque,  of  the  Burgundian  and  Provencal  type.  The 
classic  pilaster  strips  are  channeled;  on  each  arm  of  the 
transept  is  an  apsidal  chapel.  The  prelate  who  began  it, 
Guichard,  had,  while  abbot  of  Pontigny,  been  the  host  of 
St.  Thomas  Becket,  and  in  Pontigny's  church  he  was  buried 
in  1180.  His  successor,  Jean  de  Bellesmaine  (1180-93), 
born  in  Canterbury,  was  another  of  Becket's  friends,  and 
soon  after  he  was  transferred  here  from  the  see  of  Poitiers, 
then  under  English  rule,  he  inspired  the  building  of  a  col- 
legiate church  dedicated  to  the  new  English  saint.  Arch- 
bishop John  undertook  the  second  campaign  of  works  on 
Lyons'  choir,  which  was  now  vaulted  in  the  Gothic  way. 
On  the  capitals  of  the  upper  walls  are  the  familiar  crockets 
of  the  north. 

In  the  transept  is  to  be  seen  the  same  change  from  the 

1  The  see  of  Vienne  was  founded  A.D.  160.  The  cathedral  of  St.  Maurice,  well 
set  on  the  Rhone,  contains  vestiges  of  the  church  consecrated  in  1106  by  Paschal  II, 
and  which  had  been  aided  by  that  archbishop  of  Vienne,  of  the  first  line  of  Burgundy's 
Capetian  dukes,  who  became  Pope  Calixtus  II  in  1119.  The  present  edifice  is  due 
to  Bishop  Jean  de  Bernin  (1218-66),  and  was  consecrated  by  Innocent  IV  in  1251. 
Only  in  1533  were  its  facade  and  the  four  bays  behind  it  finished.  There  is  no  tran- 
sept. The  XV  century  made  the  northern  entrance,  and  the  XVI  century  that  to 
the  south.  The  red  incrustations  form  friezes,  in  the  choir,  below  both  triforium 
and  clearstory. 

A  V-century  bishop  of  Vienne  was  Claudianus  Mamertus,  who  upheld  Latin  culture 
against  the  Barbarians,  like  his  friend  and  fellow  poet,  Bishop  Apollinaris  Sidonius 
at  Clermont.  To  Vienne's  bishop  is  attributed  the  noted  hymn  Pange  lingua  gloriosi 
proelium  cerlamini,  and  the  institution  of  the  Rogation  days  of  penance  and  proces- 
sion before  the  Ascension,  in  that  hour  when  earthquakes  and  volcanic  eruptions  had 
terrorized  central  France.  In  1312  Vienne  was  the  scene  of  a  general  Council  of  the 
Church  at  which  the  Templars  were  suppressed  bj  a  pope  cowed  into  obedience  by 
the  king  of  France,  who  arrived  at  the  Council  with  an  escort  of  the  size  of  an  army. 
The  majority  of  the  bishops  present  held  that  to  abolish  the  Order  was  not  a  legal 
act,  since  the  charges  against  them  were  unproven.  Therefore,  Clement  V  was 
forced  to  fall  back  on  the  expedient  plea  of  solicitude  for  the  public  good. 

Congres  Archeologique,  1879;  J.  Ch.  Roux,  Vienne  (Paris,  Bloud  et  Cie,  1909); 
M.  Reymond,  Grenoble,  Vienne  (Collection,  Villas  d'art  celcbrcs),  (Paris,  II.  Laurens); 
Lucien  B£gule,  L'ancienne  cathedrale  de  Vienne-en-Dauphine  (Paris,  II.  Laurens, 
1914);  Paul  Berret,  Le  Dauphine  (Collection,  Provinces  franchises),  (Paris,  H. 
Laurens). 

261 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

round  arches  and  fluted  pilaster  strips  of  the  Romanesque 
day  to  the  Primary  Gothic  characteristics.  During  the  first 
third  of  the  XIII  century  the  transept  was  vaulted,  its  two 
towers  raised,  and  the  choir's  four  easternmost  bays  built. 
Lyons  was  then  governed  by  one  of  its  best  rulers,  Archbishop 
Renaud  de  Forez,  who  laid  here  the  base  for  several  centuries 
of  prosperity.  Circumstances  forced  him  into  the  position 
of  a  leader  of  armies,  but  his  natural  inclination  led  him  to 
the  cloister's  peace  to  end  his  days.  In  1226,  as  president 
of  a  free  city,  he  received  Louis  VIII,  shortly  before  that 
king's  sudden  death. 

This  capable  churchman  presented  to  his  cathedral  the 
seven  magnificent  lancets  in  the  curving  sanctuary  wall, 
that  glow  with  the  sparkling  jewel-radiance  achieved  before 
1220,  but  never  equaled  afterwards.  The  windows  at  Lyons 
are -linked  with  those  at  Sens,  and  Sens'  lancets  we  know  to 
have  been  related  to  the  earlier  school  of  Chartres.  What 
differentiates  Lyons'  medallions  from  those  in  the  north  was 
their  use  of  certain  Byzantine  arrangements,  such  as  the 
Virgin  reclining  on  a  couch  in  the  Bethlehem  grotto,  or  the 
representing  St.  John  with  a  beard. 

The  first  light  in  the  Lyons'  chevet  celebrates  the  local 
martyrs.  The  axis  window  is  a  New  Alliance,  wherein  the 
Old  Law  symbolizes  the  New.  The  meaning  of  its  animal 
allegories  was  first  explained  by  Pere  Cahier,  who  observed 
that  they  were  taken  from  the  ancient  book  called  the 
Bestiaires.  M.  Male  further  discovered  that  Lyons'  New 
Alliance  window  showed  only  those  animals  spoken  of  in 
Honbre  d'Autun's  popular  Mirror  of  the  Church.  Honore, 
who  taught  in  Autun's  cathedral  school  early  in  the  XII 
century,  was  the  initiator  of  animal  symbolism  in  French 
cathedrals. 

In  the  upper  lights  of  Lyons'  choir  are  some  XHI-century 
archaic  figures  of  big  gaunt  patriarchs  with  strange  white 
eyes.  The  upper  choir's  triplet  windows  of  different  heights 
are  most  artistic.  Under  the  north  rose  of  the  transept  is 
a  large  lancet  of  surpassing  effect,  and  in  the  transeptal  chapel, 

262 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

close  by,  is  a  window  that  is  like  a  sublimated  topaz.  The 
small  pieces  of  glass  used,  their  varied  thicknesses  and  rough- 
nesses are  causes  producing  such  sparkle.  One  cannot  stress 
too  strongly  the  exceptional  character  of  Lyons'  glass.  Cen- 
turies later,  in  the  Flamboyant  day,  this  city  produced  again 
a  bevy  of  notable  masters. 

The  nave  of  Lyons  Cathedral  advanced,  bay  by  bay,  in 
slow  progress  all  through  the  XIII  century,  and  sculpture 
and  tracery  in  triforium  and  clearstory  show  the  gradual 
change  to  Rayonnant  design.  The  nave  of  northern  Gothic 
conformed  itself  with  sound  instinct  to  the  Romanesque 
southern  choir.  This  is  a  cathedral  that  kneels  more  than 
it  soars.  The  ancient  city  exulted  on  Fourviere's  hill,  but  it 
thought  best  to  keep  its  cathedral  as  a  solemn  cenotaph  for  its 
white  army  of  unburied  martyrs. 

There  came  to  Lyons,  while  its  nave  was  building,  the 
great  Englishman,  Robert  Grosseteste  (d.  1253),  who  at 
Lincoln  made  an  angel-choir,  "one  of  the  loveliest  of  man's 
works,"  to  shrine  the  relics  of  his  predecessor,  St.  Hugh  of 
Avalon,  born  in  this  semi-southern  region.  And  many  another 
enthusiast  for  the  art  of  the  builder  studied  the  nave  of  Lyons 
in  the  course  of  its  construction.  Here  gathered  in  1245  a 
general  Council  of  the  Church.  Modern  congresses  are  some- 
times dull  affairs,  but  they  must  have  been  thrilling  in  the 
days  when  cathedrals  were  building  and  each  prelate 
championed  his  regional  ideas  and  yet  looked  about  eagerly 
to  seize  on  new  ones. 

The  two  westernmost  bays  of  Lyons  Cathedral  were  finished 
by  1310,  and  then  were  sculptured  the  fagade  portals  with 
hundreds  of  little  panels  as  full  of  frolic  and  fancy  as  the 
marginal  gaieties  of  illuminated  missals.  A  few  years  earlier 
the  transept  doors  at  Rouen  had  made  similar  medallions. 
Vice  in  them  was  rendered  hateful.  Where  Lot's  story  should 
have  been  was  left  a  blank  space.  Not  until  Flemish  realism 
entered  French  art,  in  the  XV  century,  were  certain  gross 
scenes  rendered.  The  medallions  at  Lyons  are  "Gaulois  but 
without  obscenity." 

263 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

From  1308  to  1332  the  wide,  plain  west  fagade  of  St.  Jean's 
cathedral  was  done.  Two  of  the  Avignon  popes  were  crowned 
here  in  those  days,  Clement  V,  the  builder  of  Bordeaux's 
choir,  and  John  XXII.  The  great  dukes  of  the  west,  Philippe 
le  Hardi  and  his  son  Jean  sans  Peur,  being  hereditary  canons 
of  the  cathedral,  often  sat  in  its  choir  stalls.  Of  their  time  is 
the  astronomical  clock  in  the  transept.  For  ten  years,  prior 
to  1429,  Jean  Gerson  lived  in  the  old  Christian  city,  teaching 
little  children  their  catechism,  and  the  only  payment  he  craved 
was  that  they  should  pray:  Lord  have  mercy  on  your  poor 
servant  Gerson.  He  had  been  worsted  by  his  century's 
treachery,  bloodshed,  foreign  rule,  and  church  schism;  but 
after  his  death  Lyons  revered  him  as  a  saint,  and  carved 
his  device,  Sursum  Corda,  on  a  chapel  in  the  church  of  St.  Paul. 
Scholars  have  decided  against  Gerson  as  author  of  the  Imitation 
of  Christ,  yet  during  two  centuries  he  was  so  believed  to  be, 
and  his  memory  will  be  dear  to  those  who  have  found  in- 
spiration in  that  precious  book. 

Lyons  played  so  important  a  part  in  the  revival  of  late- 
Gothic  art  that  it  was  called  the  French  Florence.  Its  new 
school  of  glassmakers  decorated  the  church  of  Brou,  at 
Bourg-en-Bresse,  not  far  away.1  Two  elaborate  Flamboyant 

1  About  thirty  miles  to  the  north  of  Lyons  lies  Bourg-en-Bresse,  in  whose  suburbs 
is  the  church  of  Brou.  The  eighteen  windows  of  the  school  of  Lyons  were  installed 
when  the  church  was  finished  in  153G.  Marguerite  of  Austria  built  it  in  fulfillment 
of  a  vow  of  her  mother-in-law,  a  Bourbon  princess,  Marguerite  herself  being  daughter 
of  Mary  of  Burgundy,  a  line,  like  the  Bourbons,  that  gloried  in  sumptuous  mausoleums. 
She  intrusted  the  work  to  the  Lyons  master,  Jean  Perreal,  who  called  on  his  aged 
friend,  Michel  Colombe,  for  the  imagery  of  the  tombs.  Colombe  designed  Duke 
Philibert's  gisant  and  the  six  winged  genii,  executed  later,  with  liberties,  by  Conrad 
Meyt,  and  his  brother  (artists  trained  at  Lyons),  and  some  Italians.  Disagreements 
rose,  and  Perreal  was  superseded  by  Loys  van  Boghem,  who  erected  a  bastard  Gothic 
church  of  the  same  heavy  Flemish  type  popular  then  at  Toledo  and  Burgos.  The 
three  rich  overcharged  tombs  are  in  the  choir.  Marguerite  almost  became  the  wife 
of  Charles  VIII,  late-Gothic  builder,  and  for  a  short  time  was  married  to  the  only 
son  of  Isabelle  and  Ferdinand,  whose  tomb  is  a  boast  of  Avila.  When  the  early  death 
of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  left  her  a  widow  she  governed  the  Netherlands  for  her  nephew, 
the  Emperor  Charles  V.  Her  father's  tomb  at  Innsbruck  is  one  of  the  noted  ones 
of  the  world,  and  the  heraldic  tombs  of  her  mother  and  her  grandfather  (Charles  le 
Temeraire  of  Burgundy)  are  in  Bruges. 

If  the  traveler  hopes  to  find  flat,  suburban  Brou  as  described  by  Matthew  Arnold, 
"mid  the  Savoy  mountain  valleys,  far  from  town  or  haunt  of  man,"  he  will  be  dis- 
appointed. Moreover,  no  reflections  fall  from  ancient  glass,  owing  to  the  patina  or 

£64 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

Gothic  tombs  were  put  up  in  the  cathedral — that  of  Archbishop 
de  Saluces  (d.  1419)  by  Jacques  Morel,  and  that  of  Cardinal 
Charles  de  Bourbon,  a  grandson  of  John  the  Fearless  of 
Burgundy,  and  son  of  the  Bourbon  duke  commemorated  by 
the  Souvigny  tomb.  From  1486  to  1501,  he  and  his  brother 
Pierre  de  Bourbon,  son-in-law  of  Louis  XI,  added  to  Lyons 
Cathedral  the  splendid  chapel  of  their  name  whose  walls  are 
carved  with  their  winged  stag  and  the  device  Esperance. 
Unfortunately  the  windows,  made  by  the  Lyons  master 
Pierre  de  la  Paix,  exist  no  longer,  save  a  few  upper  panels, 
in  one  of  which  is  an  angel  of  rare  beauty  holding  the  Bourbon 
arms.  Frequently  in  France  one  meets  the  donations  of 
Henry  TV's  art-loving  forbears,  at  Chartres,  Tours,  Souvigny,1 

coating  added  by  time  to  its  exterior  surface.  Poetic  license  is  allowed,  and  "The 
Church  of  Brou"  adds  to  this  heavy  votive  monument  the  charm  it  needs: 

"...  So  sleep,  forever  sleep,  O  marble  Pair ! 
Or,  if  ye  wake,  let  it  be  then,  when  fair 
On  the  carved  western  front  a  flood  of  light 
Streams  from  the  setting  sun,  and  colors  bright, 
Prophets,  transfigured  saints,  and  martyrs  brave, 
In  the  vast  western  windows  of  the  nave; 
And  on  the  pavement  round  the  Tomb  there  glints 
A  checkerwork  of  glowing  sapphire  tints, 
And  amethyst,  and  ruby — then  unclose 
Your  eyelids  on  the  stone  where  ye  repose, 
.  .  .  And  looking  down  on  the  warm  rosy  tints 
Which  checker,  at  your  feet,  the  illumined  flints, 
Say:  'What  is  this?     We  are  in  bliss — forgiven. 
Behold  the  pavement  of  the  courts  of  Heaven.' " 

V.  Nodet,  Ueglise  de  Brou  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens); 
C.  J.  Dufay,  L'eglise  de  Brou  et  ses  tombeaux  (Lyon,  1879) ;  Paul  Vitry,  Michel  Colombo 
et  la  sculpteur  franqaise  de  son  temps  (Paris,  1901),  p.  365;  Dupasquier  et  Didron, 
Monographic  de  Notre  Dame  de  Brou  (Paris,  1842),  in  4°  et  atlas  in  fol. 

1  In  the  XV  century  the  dukes  of  Bourbon  filled  their  capital  of  Moulins  with  art 
treasures,  and  Souvigny's  abbatial,  close  by,  was  their  necropolis.  The  present  choir 
of  Moulins  Cathedral,  originally  the  chapel  of  their  palace,  was  begun  by  Agnes  of 
Burgundy,  daughter  of  Jean  sans  Peur,  and  finished  by  her  sons,  Jean  II  de  Bourbon 
and  Pierre  II  sire  de  Beaujeu,  who  in  1475  wedded  the  daughter  of  Louis  XI  and 
governed  France  with  his  wife  during  the  minority  of  Charles  VIII.  Jeanne  of  France 
and  her  husband  are  portrayed  on  the  folding  doors  of  the  splendid  triptych  (1488- 
1503),  by  some  unknown  French  primitif  now  in  the  sacristy  of  Moulins  Cathedral, 
and  again  in  one  of  the  three  windows — warm  in  color  and  with  fine,  clear  portrait 
work — in  the  square  east  wall  of  the  chevet,  glass  that  belongs  to  the  transition  from 
Gothic  to  Renaissance  as  the  XV  century  merged  in  the  XVI.  Fifteenth-century 
windows  are  comparatively  rare,  so  the  twelve  possessed  by  Moulins'  chief  church 

265 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Champigny-sur-Veude.  Henry  was  married  in  Lyons  Ca- 
thedral, in  1600,  to  Marie  de  Medici,  daughter  of  another 
line  of  connoisseurs. 

Like  many  a  cathedral  of  France,  Lyons  was  at  its  richest 
when  it  was  sacked  most  piteously  both  in  1560  and  1562. 
Every  church  in  the  city  was  devastated  by  the  cruel  Baron 
des  Adrets,  who  led  the  Huguenots  one  year,  the  Catholics 
the  next,  for  in  those  bitter  civil  wars  religion  was  often  the 
thinnest  cloak.  The  Huguenots  destroyed  the  tomb  of 
Cardinal  de  Saluces,  with  its  eighteen  alabaster  statuettes, 
smashed  the  Bourbon  chapel  and  tomb,  broke  up  the  Flam- 
boyant rood  screen,  and  dragged  through  the  streets  a  silver 
statue  of  Christ  that  had  surmounted  it.  On  the  west  fagade 
some  fifty  large  statues  were  brought  down,  though  happily 
the  lovely  little  scenes  chiseled  under  their  brackets  were 
spared.  It  is  told  how  an  archer  shattered  Our  Lady's  image, 
but  when  he  attempted  to  dislodge  that  of  God  the  Father, 
on  the  pignon,  it  fell  and  killed  him.  Lyons  was  again  the 
scene  of  saturnalian  havoc  during  the  Revolution,  when  by 

are  precious.  Cardinal  Charles  de  Bourbon,  who  beautified  Lyons  Cathedral,  also 
appears  in  the  Bourbon  dukes'  window  with  his  two  brothers.  The  nave  of  Moulins 
Cathedral,  in  black-and-white  Volvic  stone,  is  a  modern  rendering  by  Lassus  and 
Millet  of  the  Primary  Gothic  of  the  region. 

Souvigny  was  a  Cluniac  priory,  in  which  died  the  two  great  Cluny  abbots,  St. 
Majolus  (d.  994),  who  brought  to  France  the  noted  William  of  Volpiano,  the  organizer 
of  the  Romanesque  renaissance  of  architecture,  and  St.  Odilo  (d.  1049).  In  1095 
Urban  II  stayed  in  Souvigny,  and  so  did  Paschal  II  in  1106.  The  XH-century  church 
was  largely  reconstructed  in  the  late-Gothic  day  when  the  prior  Dom  Geoffrey  Chollet 
wished  to  house  fittingly  the  splendid  new  Bourbon  tombs.  That  of  Louis  II  (com- 
rade in  arms  of  Duguesclin)  has  been  attributed  without  proof  to  Jean  de  Cambrai, 
who  made  the  Berry  tomb  at  Bourges.  M.  Guigue  has  ably  assigned  to  Jacques 
Morel  the  tomb  of  Charles  I  and  Agnes  of  Burgundy.  The  Bourbon  line,  direct  in 
descent  from  St.  Louis,  mounted  the  French  throne  with  Henry  IV. 

Congres  Archeologique,  1913,  p.  1,  Chanoine  Joseph  Clemat;  p.  182,  Doshoulieres; 
J.  Locquin,  Nevers  et  Moulins  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens); 
H.  Aucouturier,  Moulins  (1914);  R.  de  Quirielle,  Guide  archeologique  dans  Moulins 
(1893);  Abbe  Requin,  "  Jacques  Morel  et  son  neveu  Antoine  le  Moiturier,"  in  Revue 
des  Soc.  des  Beaux- Arts  des  Departemtnts  (Paris,  1890);  L.  Courajod,  "Jacques  Morel, 
sculpteur  bourguignon,"  in  Gazette  archeol,  1885,  p.  236;  A.  J.  de  H.  Bushnell,  Storied 
Windows  (New  York,  1914);  L.  du  Broc  de  Segange,  Hist,  et  description  de  la  cathedrale 
de  Moulins  (Paris,  1885),  vol.  2,  Inventaire  des  richesses  d'art  de  la  France;  L.  Desro- 
siers,  La  cathedrale  de  Moulins,  ancienne  collegiate  (Moulins,  1871);  H.  Faure,  Histoire 
de  Moulins  (Moulins,  1900),  2  vols.;  G.  Depeyre,  Les  dues  de  Bourbon  (Toulouse, 
Privat,  1897). 

266 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

the  thousand  her  citizens  were  mowed  down  with  grape  shot 
because  they  chose  to  adhere  to  the  old  regime.  A  passage- 
way was  broken  open  in  the  walls  of  the  cathedral  to  permit 
the  entry  of  a  chariot  bearing  the  Goddess  of  Reason. 

Of  all  the  happenings  in  Lyons  Cathedral,  the  most  mo- 
mentous was  the  Ecumenical  Council  of  1274.  Christendom 
never  witnessed  a  greater  gathering.  At  the  Council  held  at 
Lyons  in  1245,  Innocent  IV  had  preached  his  famous  sermon 
on  the  five  wounds  of  the  Church,  but  he  was  less  concerned 
with  healing  them  than  with  excommunicating  Frederick  II. 
St.  Louis  tried  in  vain  to  make  peace  between  pope  and 
emperor  on  his  visit  to  Lyons  in  those  days.  When  the 
saint-king  died  on  his  last  crusade  his  ashes  rested  in  honor 
in  Lyons  Cathedral  on  their  long  journey  from  Tunis  to  St. 
Denis.  Till  the  death  of  Frederick  II,  the  pope  lived  in 
Lyons,  whose  independent  position,  neither  wholly  of  France 
nor  of  the  Empire,  caused  it  to  be  a  chosen  spot  for  exiles. 
Innocent  contributed  toward  the  building  of  a  stone  bridge 
over  the  Rhone  to  replace  one  that  had  collapsed  under  the 
troops  of  Philippe-Auguste  and  Coeur-de-Lion  as  they  marched 
to  the  Third  Crusade. 

The  Council  of  1245  had  been  held  in  a  cathedral  of  whose 
nave  only  four  bays  were  completed.  For  the  far  greater 
gathering  of  1274,  Lyons  Cathedral  could  seat  over  two  thou- 
sand prelates  and  princes.  The  chief  visitors  were  placed 
in  the  choir  with  Gregory  X  (formerly  a  canon  of  this  church). 
Among  them  was  Aragon's  king,  Jaime  el  Conquistador, 
mighty  builder  of  churches  and  untiring  crusader,  Guy  de 
la  Tour,  the  bishop-builder  of  Clermont  Cathedral,  and 
the  bishop  of  Mende,  Guillaume  Durandus,  author  of  the 
universally  read  liturgical  treatise.  St.  Bonaventure,  whose 
book  of  meditations  was  soon  to  inspire  Giotto,  preached  at 
the  opening  Mass.  His  fellow  teacher  in  Paris  University, 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  journeying  north  to  attend  the  congress 
at  Lyons,  had  died  suddenly  in  the  prime  of  life. 

The  Council  of  1274  was  not  political,  as  had  been  that 
of  1245;  its  main  purposes  were  the  Holy  War  in  the  East 

267 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

and  the  reconciliation  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches.  The 
Emperor  of  Constantinople  had  sent  officials  to  reconcile 
him  with  Rome,  and  to  this  day  memorials  of  that  short 
reunion — Greek  and  Latin  processional  crosses — stand  behind 
the  chief  altar  of  Lyons  Cathedral.  The  emperor's  ambas- 
sadors solemnly  abjured  the  twenty-six  propositions  con- 
demned by  Rome,  then  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  pope. 
With  swelling  heart  the  vast  throng  rose  to  chant  the  Te 
Deum.  Gregory  X  intoned  the  Credo  in  Latin,  and  the 
Greek  patriarch  repeated  thrice  the  Filioque  phrase  which, 
centuries  earlier,  had  been  the  occasion  of  the  break  with 
Rome,  qui  ex  Patre  Filioque  procedit.  Before  the  century 
ended  the  union  was  a  dead-letter,  though  the  emperor  till 
his  death  remained  faithful  to  his  pact.  The  Greek  priest- 
hood proved  irreconcilable. 

The  day  before  the  Council  closed  St.  Bonaventure  died, 
and  around  his  grave,  in  the  Franciscan  church  at  Lyons, 
stood  the  most  imposing  group  of  mourners  recorded  in  history, 
pope,  kings,  and  five  hundred  princes  and  prelates  of  note. 
The  sermon  was  preached  by  Bonaventure's  pupil  of  the 
Paris  schoolroom,  the  learned  Pierre  de  Tarentaise,  arch- 
bishop of  Lyons,  soon  to  mount  Peter's  chair  as  Innocent  V. 
All  Christendom  was  bidden  to  offer  up  a  prayer  for  the  soul 
of  Brother  Bonaventure.  The  city  adopted  him  as  a  patron. 
In  1562  the  ashes  of  the  Seraphic  Doctor  were  flung  into  the 
Rhone,  but  there  still  stands  in  Lyons  a  late-Gothic  church 
that  bears  his  name. 

LE  MANS  CATHEDRAL1 

A  cathedral  is  a  book,  a  poem,  and  Christianity,  true  to  its  promise,  has 
drawn  voice  and  song  from  stone,  lapides  clamabunt. — FREDERIC  OZANAM. 

1  Congres  Archeotogiquc,  A860,  1863,  1871,  1878,  and  1910,  p.  267,  on  the  cathedral; 
p.  280,  on  Le  Mans'  two  Benedictine  churches;  Abbe  A.  Ledru  el  G.  Fleury,  La 
cathedrale  St.  Julien  du  Mans  (Mamcrs,  Fleury  et  Dangin,  1900),  folio;  Gabriel 
Floury,  La  cathedrale  du  Mans  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens); 
E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  Etude  historique  et  archeol.  sur  la  ncf  de  la  cathedrale  du  Mans 
(188!));  Abbe  A.  Ledru,  Histoire  des  egliscs  du  Mans  (Paris,  Plon-Nourrit,  1905-07); 
R.  Triger,  Le  Mans  a  trovers  les  ages  (Le  Mans,  1898);  E.  Hucher,  Vitraux  prints  de 
la  cathedrale  du  Mans  (Paris,  Didron,  1865),  folio  and  supplement  claques;  A.  Echi- 

268 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT   CATHEDRALS 

Like  Bourges  and  Lyons,  the  cathedral  of  Le  Mans  shows 
the  influence  of  different  schools.  An  Angevin  architect  made 
the  bombe  vaults  of  its  nave,  and  from  the  Ile-de-France  and 
Normandy  came  the  masters  who  designed  its  mammoth 
choir.  The  nave  of  Le  Mans  is  a  masterpiece  of  Romanesque 
despite  its  diagonals;  the  choir  a  masterpiece  of  Apogee 
Gothic.  In  the  nave  appear  different  stages  of  pre-Gothic 
art,  and  in  the  choir,  the  transept,  and  the  nave's  masonry 
roof  are  represented — Primary,  Apogee,  Rayonnant,  and 
Flamboyant  Gothic. 

To  read  the  stones  of  this  composite  church  with  intelligence, 
one  must  trace  its  story  step  by  step.  It  is  named  after  the 
first  bishop  of  the  city,  St.  Julian,  who  brought  Christianity 
into  the  region.  Several  earlier  cathedrals  succeeded  each 
other  on  the  site.  The  one  erected  after  the  Northmen  sacked 
Le  Mans  was  falling  into  ruin  when,  about  1060,  Bishop 
Vulgrim  began  a  new  cathedral,  carried  on  by  his  successor, 
Arnould.  Their  Romanesque  choir  exists  no  longer,  but 
vestiges  of  the  church  are  to  be  traced  in  the  walls  of  the 
present  nave,  and  in  the  gable  of  the  Psallette,  a  building  to 
the  north  of  the  cathedral,  which  in  Bishop  Vulgrim's  day 
formed  part  of  his  transept's  north  tower. 

The  nave  of  Le  Mans  as  we  have  it  to-day  shows  three 
distinct  campaigns  of  work  undertaken  by  the  three  bishops, 
Hoel,  Hildebert  de  Lavardin,  and  Guillaume  de  Passavant. 
Bishop  Hoel  (1085-97),  a  Breton,  able,  handsome,  patriotic, 
continued  the  Romanesque  transept  and  the  towers  that 


vard,  Les  vitraux  de  la  cathedrale  du  Mans  (Mamers,  1913);  Bulletin  Monumental, 
studies  on  Le  Mans,  in  vol.  7,  p.  359;  vol.  14,  p.  348  (Hucher);  vol.  26,  on  the  Geoffrey 
Plantagenet  enamel;  also  vol.  31,  p.  789;  vol.  37,  p.  704;  vol.  39,  p.  483  (Dion);  vol. 
44,  p.  373;  vol.  45,  p.  63  (Esnault);  and  vol.  72,  1908,  p.  155  (Pascal  V.  Lefevre- 
Pontalis);  De  Wismes,  Le  Maine  et  VAnjou,  historique,  archeologique  et  pittoresque 
(Paris,  A.  Bry),  2  vols.,  folio;  Guenet,  Le  Maine  illustre  (Le  Mans,  1902);  Abbe  R. 
Charles,  Guide  illustre  du  Mans  et  dans  la  Sarthe  (Le  Mans,  1886);  Kate  Norgate, 
England  Under  the  Angevin  Kings  (London,  1887),  2  vols.;  Mrs.  J.  R.  Green,  Henry  II 
(London,  1888);  see  also  Davis  (London,  1905);  Robert  Latouche,  Histoire  du  comte 
du  Maine  pendant  le  Xe  et  XV  siecle  (Paris,  H.  Champion,  1910);  H.  Prentout,  Le 
Maine  (Collection,  Les  regions  de  la  France),  (Paris,  L.  Cerf);  Histoire  litteraire  de 
la  France,  vol.  11,  p.  250,  "  Hildebert  de  Lavardin";  p.  177,  "  Geoffrey,  abbe  de 
Vendome"  (Paris,  1759);  on  Hildebert,  see  A.  Dieudonne  (1898)  and  P.  Deservellers. 

269 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

terminate  its  arms.  His  works  exist  in  the  base  of  the  southern 
tower  and  also  in  those  two  pier  arcades  of  the  nave  that 
touch  the  transept.  The  groin  vaulting  of  the  side  aisles 
is  of  HoeTs  time,  as  well  as  the  aisle  walls,  decorated  with 
blind  arcades,  the  capitals  of  whose  shafts  are  carved  crudely 
with  chimerical  animals.  As  the  capitals  opposite  those  of 
the  engaged  shafts  show  more  skill,  they  must  have  been  done 
later  in  the  XI  century. 

Good  Bishop  Hoel,  in  famine  time,  sold  the  gold  and  silver 
plate  of  his  cathedral  to  feed  the  poor,  and  on  his  deathbed 
distributed  his  possessions  among  them.  After  a  visit  to 
Rome,  he  accompanied  Urban  II  back  to  France,  on  the 
momentous  occasion  of  the  launching  of  the  First  Crusade. 
When  the  Council  of  Clermont  ended,  the  pope  came  to  Le 
Mans,  in  February  of  1096,  to  visit  his  friend  the  bishop,  to 
the -intense  pride  of  all  the  city.  Such  episodes  reflect  clearly 
the  unison  of  aspiration  which  was  presently  to  express  itself 
in  mighty  movements.  The  Greek  princess  who  saw  the 
first  crusaders  arrive  in  Constantinople  has  told  in  graphic 
phrases  how  Europe,  unloosed  from  its  foundations,  hurled 
itself  on  Asia,  and  with  a  like  impetuosity  western  Christendom 
was  about  to  fling  itself  toward  heaven  in  cathedrals. 

The  church  on  which  Bishop  Hoel  had  worked  was  destroyed 
in  large  part  by  fire,  and  his  successor,  the  illustrious  Hilde- 
bert  de  Lavardin  (1097-1125),  began  a  reconstruction  about 
1110.  Hildebert  was  the  most  popular  poet  of  his  day  and 
in  the  mediaeval  schools  his  letters  were  committed  to  memory. 
A  lover  of  the  Latin  authors,  he  composed  verses  of  such 
facture  that  some  of  them  have  been  mistaken  for  ancient 
classics.  He  was  philosopher,  orator,  and  architect  as  well. 
The  best  years  of  his  life  were  passed  in  Le  Mans,  though 
he  was  to  die  in  Tours  as  archbishop  of  that  city.  While  a 
teacher  in  Le  Mans'  cathedral  school,  he  accompanied  Bishop 
Hoel  on  his  travels,  and  knew  well  Cluny  and  its  great  abbot 
Hugues,  whose  biographer  he  became.  Hildebert  possessed 
esprit,  a  sound  judgment,  and  much  independence.  Life 
tested  him  harshly.  The  ordeal  of  prison  he  suffered  several 

270 


Le  Mans"  Choir  (1217-1254).     The  Double  Abies 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

times,  and  the  worse  ordeal  of  calumny,  which  is  disproved 
by  the  affectionate  friendship  felt  for  him  by  St.  Anselm,  St. 
Bernard,  and  Bishop  Ives  of  Chartres.  No  man,  he  himself 
said  in  one  of  his  sermons,  should  be  a  bishop  whose  life  has 
not  always  been  irreproachable.  His  contemporaries  called 
him  "a  prelate  attentive  to  the  distribution  of  the  bread 
of  the  word  of  God,"  a  man  zealous  for  discipline,  charitable 
to  the  poor,  and  with  a  love  for  the  House  of  Prayer  that 
made  him  a  builder  both  at  Le  Mans  and  Tours. 

Like  St.  Anselm,  he  was  bullied  by  William  Rufus.  Maine 
lay  between  Anjou  and  Normandy  and  was  fought  for  by 
each  of  those  expanding  powers,  a  duel  settled  only  by  the 
marriage  of  the  heiress  of  Maine  to  the  heir  of  Anjou,  the 
son  of  which  union  was  Geoffrey  the  Handsome,  the  first 
Plantagenet  so  called,  who  married  the  heiress  of  Normandy 
and  England.  Geoffrey's  son,  Henry  II  of  England,  inherited 
Maine,  Anjou,  and  Normandy  before  he  fell  heir  to  the  king- 
dom across  the  Channel. 

When  William  Rufus  captured  Le  Mans  in  1097,  he  exacted 
the  demolition  of  the  cathedral's  towers  on  the  charge  that 
they  dominated  his  residence.  Annoyed  that  Hildebert 
had  been  elected  bishop  without  his  deciding  voice,  he  pil- 
laged his  palace,  confiscated  his  possessions,  and  kept  him 
chained  in  prison  for  a  year.  The  bishop  was  imprisoned 
as  well  by  Maine's  designing  neighbor  to  the  south,  the  Count 
of  Anjou,  and  once  while  in  the  south  of  France  he  almost 
met  death  at  the  hands  of  Saracen  pirates. 

Despite  vicissitudes,  he  found  time  for  writing  poetry  and 
for  building.  He  obtained  a  monk-architect  named  Jean 
from  the  noted  Geoffrey,  abbot  of  Vendome,1  author,  writer, 


1  The  abbey  church  of  the  Trinite  has  in  its  transept  walls  parts  of  the  edifice  ded- 
icated in  1040.  At  the  beginning  of  the  XIII  century  that  transept  was  vaulted  in 
the  eight-rib  Plantagenet  way,  the  keystones  being  well  carved.  The  ambulatory 
and  radiating  chapels  are  early-Gothic;  the  choir  is  late  XIII  century;  the  eastern- 
most bays  of  the  nave  are  of  the  XIV,  and  its  westernmost  bays  of  the  XV  century. 
The  fagade  is  a  gem  of  Flamboyant  Gothic.  There  are  also  windows  of  the  XIII 
and  XV  centuries,  and  some  well-known  carved  choir  stalls.  The  Merveille  of  Ven- 
dome, its  tower  of  1140,  prototype  for  the  Primary  Gothic  ones  at  Chartres  and  Rouen, 

18  271 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

and  the  intimate  of  many  popes.  Later,  when  Abbot  Geoffrey 
asked  for  the  return  of  his  architect,  Hildebert  retained  him, 
and  a  tart  letter  of  the  abbot  to  the  bishop  exists;  it  appears 
that  monk  Jean  was  sent,  in  consequence,  on  a  penitential 
pilgrimage  to  Palestine.  Bishop  Hildebert's  part  in  Le 
Mans'  actual  cathedral  is  the  semicircular  pier  arches  dis- 
cernible in  all  the  bays  of  the  nave  save  the  two  touching  the 
transept,  the  alternate  circular  piers,  and  the  west  fagade, 
wherein  were  retained  older  portions,  and  against  which 
leans  a  big  menhir  of  immemorial  age:  "//  y  a  dans  la  cathe- 
drale  toute  la  simple  beaute  du  menhir  qui  Vannonce"  is  one 
of  Rodin's  vivifying  phrases. 

Bishop  Hildebert  consecrated  his  new  cathedral  in  1120, 
and  it  is  related  how,  on  that  day,  Fulk  V  of  Anjou,  the 
widower  of  the  heiress  of  Maine,  about  to  start  for  the  Holy 
Land,  set  his  little  son  of  seven,  Geoffrey,  on  the  high  altar 
of  Le  Mans  Cathedral,  and  said  with  emotion:  "O  holy 
Julian,  to  thee  I  commend  my  child  and  my  lands.  Defend 
and  protect  them  both."  His  prowess  in  Palestine  was 
eventually  to  win  for  him  the  heiress  of  Jerusalem,  so  that 
when  he  had  married  his  son  Geoffrey  to  a  woman  of  great 
fortune,  he  sensibly  left  him  as  sole  ruler  in  Maine  and  Anjou, 
contenting  himself  with  his  Oriental  kingdom. 

Two  fires  in  quick  succession  damaged  the  Romanesque 
cathedral  of  Le  Mans.  Ordericus  Vitalis  tells  how  "in  the 
first  week  of  September,  1134,  the  hand  of  God  punished 
many  sins  by  fire,  for  the  ancient  and  wealthy  cities  of  Le 
Mans  and  Chartres  were  burned."  In  the  necessary  changes 
that  followed  practically  all  the  central  nave  was  redone 
by  Bishop  Guillaume  de  Passavant  (1145-86).  The  tri- 
forium,  the  clearstory,  and  the  masonry  roof  are  his,  and 
he  constructed  the  pointed  arches  under  the  semicircular 
ones  of  Bishop  Hildebert's  pier  arcade.  The  four  immense 

stands  free  of  the  church.  From  the  earlier  abbatial  was  saved  a  famous  XH-century 
window  of  the  St.  Denis  school,  a  Byzantinesque  Madonna. 

Congres  Archeologique,  1872;  Abbe  Plat,  Notes  pour  servir  a  Vhistoire  monumental 
de  la  Trinile  (Vendome,  1907);  La  Martelliere,  Guide  dans  le  Vendamois  (Vendome, 
1883). 

272 


SOME  OF  THE   LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

square  vault  sections  (c.  1150)  over  Le  Mans'  nave  are  of  the 
heavy  rib  Plantagenet  type,  like  the  so-called  domical  vaults 
of  Angers  Cathedral.  Their  crown,  or  keystone,  being  ten 
feet  higher  than  their  framing  arches,  a  pronounced  concave 
shape  results.  The  addition  of  a  heavy  stone  roof  necessitated 
the  englobing  of  each  alternate  monolithic  column  by  a  square 
pier  cantoned  with  shafts. 

Bishop  Guillaume  developed  the  door  in  the  south  flank 
of  the  nave,  whose  column  images,  though  much  mutilated, 
are  allied  with  those  at  Chartres'  western  entrances.  At 
the  door  joints,  in  bas-relief  only,  are  Peter  and  Paul;  an 
additional  step  was  taken  when  the  other  images  were  made 
to  stand  almost  free  of  their  columns.  Guglielmo,  the  Lom- 
bard, had  used  jamb-sculpture  at  Modena  Cathedral  as  the 
XII  century  opened.  This  door  of  Le  Mans,  among  the 
earliest  of  French  imaged  portals,  belongs  to  the  decade 
before  1150.  The  porch  leading  to  it  was  built  in  time  for 
the  consecration  of  the  cathedral  in  1158. 

Guillaume  de  Passavant  was  another  of  the  outstanding 
men  of  his  age.  He,  too,  wrote  Latin  verses,  and  even  as 
he  lay  dying  composed  a  little  satire  on  his  attendants,  whom 
his  clear  eyes  observed  to  be  more  concerned  over  the  coming 
recompense  from  his  estate  than  for  the  loss  of  their  bishop. 
Like  St.  Bernard,  who  had  loved  him  as  a  youth,  he  was  a 
tireless  reader  of  the  Bible.  Daily  at  his  table  the  poor 
were  fed.  He  presented  to  his  cathedral  a  cloth  of  gold 
studded  with  gems,  for  which  he  wrote  verses,  saying  that 
in  case  of  famine  it  was  to  be  sold  to  feed  the  destitute. 
Another  princely  gift  he  gave  to  Le  Mans  Cathedral  was 
the  enameled  tomb  of  Count  Geoffrey  the  Handsome,  of 
which  only  one  large  panel  has  survived,  now  the  treasure 
of  the  Museum.  Both  kinds  of  enamel  were  used,  the  flat 
surface,  or  champleve,  and  the  cloisonne  method.  The 
technique  is  Limousin,  not,  as  some  have  said,  Rhenish; 
between  Le  Mans  and  Limoges  were  many  links. 

Geoffrey  the  Handsome  was  the  thirteenth  count  of  Anjou, 
though  the  capital  of  Maine  was  always  his  favorite  residence, 

273 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

rather  than  Angers,  the  chief  city  of  his  father's  patrimony. 
He  won  the  nickname  "Plantagenet"  because  of  the  sprig 
of  broom  he  used  to  stick  in  his  cap.  True  to  his  race's  instinct 
for  territorial  aggrandizement,  he  married,  when  not  yet 
twenty,  a  woman  twice  his  age,  Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry 
I  of  England,  the  Conqueror's  son.  Geoffrey  died  in  1151 
on  his  return  from  the  Second  Crusade,  where  he  had  fought 
for  his  half  brother,  Baudouin  III,  king  of  Jerusalem.  His 
son,  Henry  II,  was  born  in  Le  Mans  (1133)  and  baptized  in 
its  cathedral.  Henry  had  revered  Guillaume  de  Passavant 
from  childhood,  yet  once,  in  an  Angevin  passion,  because 
the  aged  bishop  had  crossed  his  will,  he  sent  messengers  from 
England  to  order  the  sacking  of  the  prelate's  palace.  Thomas 
Becket,  then  Henry's  chancellor,  gave  secret  advice  to  the 
envoys  to  tarry  long  on  their  journey  to  Maine.  On  the 
third  day  after  their  departure  he  wrung  from  the  king,  who 
fancied  his  order  was  already  carried  out,  a  counter-order, 
which  he  rushed  through  to  Le  Mans. 

Henry  Plantagenet  loved  Le  Mans  better  than  any  city 
in  his  wide  dominions,  and  his  heart  broke  when  his  rebellious 
son,  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion,  drove  him  out  in  1189.  Two 
months  later  he  died  in  Chinon  castle  and  was  carried  for 
burial  to  Fontevrault;  the  ancient  prophecy  had  said  that 
Anjou's  ruler  of  his  generation  would  lie  shrouded  among 
the  shrouden  women. 

If  Fulk  Nerra's  wild  blood  had  passed  to  Henry,  so  had  his 
shrewdness  and  progressive  statesmanship.  He,  too,  like 
his  father,before  twenty, wedded  a  woman  much  older  than  him- 
self, the  richest  heiress  in  Christendom,  Alienor  of  Aquitaine. 
Possessing  Anjou,  Maine,  and  Touraine,  Normandy  and 
Aquitaine,  this  king  of  England  ruled  more  territory  in  France 
than  did  the  French  king.  And  Philippe-Auguste,  son  of 
the  French  monarch,  wThom  Alienor  had  discarded,  bent  his 
resourceful  genius  and  fox-like  policies  to  change  so  abnormal 
a  state  of  affairs.  The  Capet-Plantagenet  duel  was  to  last 
for  centuries. 

Both  Henry  and  Philippe  were  munificent  patrons  of  the 

274 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

new  architecture.  Henry  sponsored  that  individual  phase 
of  it  called  Plantagenet  Gothic;  under  Philippe,  French 
Gothic  reached  its  highest  development.  And  the  cathedral 
of  Le  Mans  records  them  both,  Plantagenet  in  its  nave,  north- 
ern French  in  its  choir.  When  Maine,  Anjou,  and  Touraine, 
because  of  John  Lackland 's  crimes,  passed  willingly  to  the 
French  king,  the  art  of  the  Ile-de-France  found  favor  in 
southwest  France.  Then  it  was  that  the  Xl-century  Roman- 
esque chevet  of  Le  Mans  Cathedral  was  replaced  by  the 
present  stupendous  Gothic  choir. 

In  1217  Bishop  Hamlin  obtained  the  consent  of  Philippe- 
Auguste  to  destroy  the  Gallo-Roman  city  walls  in  order  to 
extend  the  apse  of  his  church,  and  the  next  year  the  choir 
was  started.  The  bishop,  trowel  in  hand,  spent  hours  on 
the  new  work.  His  two  successors  continued  the  enterprise. 
From  1234  to  1255  Bishop  Geoffrey  de  Loudon  was  its  princely 
benefactor.  In  1254  the  choir  was  dedicated,  "a  day  of 
benediction"  for  our  land,  said  the  people  with  tears  of  fervor. 
Men  and  women  worked  voluntarily  to  clear  the  edifice  of 
builders'  rubbish,  even  the  little  children  of  four  carrying 
out  the  sand  in  their  frocks.  For  the  happy  ceremony,  each 
guild  of  the  city,  chanting  psalms,  brought  a  candle  of  two- 
hundred-pound  weight,  to  be  set  up  in  a  majestic  circle  round 
the  high  altar. 

The  choir,  then  blessed  for  God's  service,  is  one  of  the  vast 
designs  of  Gothic  architecture.  "Words  are  powerless  to 
paint  the  majesty  of  this  sanctuary,"  wrote  M.  Gonse.  Here, 
as  at  Bourges,  is  the  note  of  dream  beauty  that  haunts  the 
memory,  the  something  mysterious  and  superlatively  pic- 
turesque. Were  the  church  completed  on  the  same  scale 
it  would  rank  with  the  supreme  cathedrals  of  France.  From 
the  exterior  the  contrast  between  the  XH-century  nave  and 
its  towering  neighbor  is  painfully  abrupt.  The  nave's  outer 
walls  are  stark  and  unadorned,  the  round  arched  windows 
insignificant  in  size.  But  who  would  be  willing  to  forfeit 
the  venerable  monument  built  by  the  poet-theologians, 
Hildebert  de  Lavardin  and  Guillaume  de  Passavant,  wherein 

275 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

history  has  been  lived,  and  whose  interior  aspect  is  of  so 
grave,  white,  and  primeval  a  simplicity? 

Overawing  in  size  is  Le  Mans'  Gothic  choir.  The  ground 
falls  away  to  the  east  of  the  church,  and  then  opens  out  in  the 
Place  des  Jacobins,  whence  can  be  obtained  an  unobstructed 
view  of  the  stupendous  edifice.  Its  numerous  apse  chapels 
are  of  exceptional  length.  The  forked  flying  buttresses 
allowed  the  insertion  of  ambulatory  windows.  As  at  Bourges 
and  Coutances,  the  inner  aisle  is  sufficiently  high  to  possess 
its  own  triforium  and  clearstory,  but  Le  Mans  improved  on 
Bourges  by  omitting  altogether  the  triforium  of  its  middle 
choir  in  order  not  to  dwarf  its  clearstory. 

Archaeologists  have  traced  the  handiwork  of  three  different 
men  in  Le  Mans'  choir.  First,  an  architect  of  the  Ile-de- 
France  made  the  general  plan,  and  built  the  thirteen  radiat- 
ing chapels.  Then  a  Norman  worked  on  the  eastern  curve, 
and  it  is  thought  he  was  Thomas  Toustain,  cited  here  as 
master-of-works,  since  Toustain  is  a  Norman  name.  Perhaps 
he  was  the  same  genius  who  had  already  planned  the  high 
inner  aisle  at  Coutances  Cathedral.  Very  Norman  are  Le 
Mans'  circular  capitals,  the  sanctuary's  twin-column  piers, 
the  carved  band  under  the  clearstory,  the  sharp-pointed 
arches  beneath  arches,  and  the  foliate  sculpture  covering  the 
spandrels  of  the  aisle's  triforium.  The  third  master-of-works 
must  have  been  a  native  of  the  Ile-de-France,  for  the  upper  choir 
and  the  two  bays  nearest  the  transept  belong  to  that  school. 

There  is  a  progressive  enlarging  of  the  bays  of  the  choir 
from  its  entrance  to  its  end,  done  too  regularly  to  have  been 
accidental.  Professor  Goodyear  has  developed  the  thesis  of 
these  intentional  refinements  in  Gothic  monuments.1  Mr. 


1  W.  H.  Goodyear,  "Architectural  Refinements  in  French  Cathedrals,"  in  Archi- 
tectural Record,  1904-05,  vols.  16,  17;  ibid.,  "  Architectural  Refinements,  a  reply  to 
Mr.  Bilson,"  in  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  3d  series,  1907, 
vol.  15,  p.  17;  Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  "Les  irregularites  de  plan  dans  les  eglises,"  in 
Bulletin  Monumental,  1906,  p.  135. 

Professor  Goodyear's  theory  of  intentional  asymmetry  in  mediaeval  buildings — such 
irregularities  as  curves  of  alignment,  vertical  curves,  want  of  parallelism  in  walls  and 
piers,  deflection  of  axis — has  not  found  favor  with  various  French  and  English  archae- 
ologists, but  much  of  what  he  has  noted  may  some  day  be  accepted  as  self-evident. 

276 


SOME   OF  THE   LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

Arthur  Kingsley  Porter  thinks  that  undoubtedly  there  are 
cases  when  it  was  done  with  subtle  design,  but  more  often  the 
irregularities  resulted  from  the  sound  artistic  taste  of  the 
old  masters  who  preferred  a  free-hand  drawing  to  mechanical 
perfection.  "There  is  no  excellent  beauty  that  hath  not 
some  strangeness  in  the  proportion,"  said  Bacon.  Some 
think  that  at  Le  Mans  the  desire  was  to  counteract  the 
perspective  narrowing.  Others  say  that  the  builder  thought 
thus  to  conform  the  wide  choir  to  the  ancient  nave  of  lesser 
breadth. 

Not  till  the  day  of  Rayonnant  Gothic  was  Le  Mans'  transept 
begun,  and  it  proved  exceptional  in  continuing  building  while 
the  foreign  wars  ravaged  France;  the  chapter  taxed  itself 
heavily  to  meet  expenses.  As  the  XIV  century  closed,  the 
southern  arm  was  finished;  it  is  entirely  blocked  by  the 
ancient  tower,  to  which  were  then  added  two  stories.  Midway 
in  the  vertical  wall  of  the  northern  arm  (begun  in  1403) 
appears  Flamboyant  tracery.  As  cracks  soon  showed,  the 
chapter  called  in  a  new  architect,  Jean  de  Dammartin,  whose 
grandfather  and  great-uncle  had  beautified  Dijon,  Bourges, 
and  Poitiers.  When  in  1430  the  English  captured  Le  Mans, 
he  passed  to  Tours,  on  whose  west  fagade  he  worked. 

Because  the  Gothic  transept  of  Le  Mans  was  confined 
to  the  same  space  as  the  Romanesque  one  it  replaced,  it  may 
seem  too  narrow  for  such  tremendous  height.  It  is  a  monument 
as  stately  and  cold  as  the  glass  it  frames.  Window  over 
window  rises  the  fragile  audacious  sweep  of  color  that  closes 
the  transept's  northern  vista,  each  part  being  bound  by 
stone  traceries  into  the  monumental  whole.  White  and  the 
yellow  produced  by  silver-stain  is  the  general  theme,  with 
brilliant  touches  of  green,  flashed  ruby,  violet,  and  blue. 
It  has  been  said  that  what  XV-century  glass  needs,  to  give 
it  character,  are  the  strong  black  cross-hatchings  of  the  earlier 
schools.  In  the  row  of  lights  below  the  big  rose,  a  damasked 
background  to  the  figures  was  used  with  good  effect.  Among 
those  represented  are  good  King  Rene,  faithful  amateur  of 
art,  and  his  mother,  Yolande  of  Aragon,  the  regent  dowager 

277 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

of  Maine  and  Anjou.  Her  son-in-law  Charles  VII  contributed 
toward  the  transept  of  Le  Mans. 

For  its  wealth  of  storied  windows  Le  Mans  comes  second 
only  to  Chartres  and  Bourges.  It  has  suffered  from  hail- 
storms which  wrecked  many  of  its  XHI-century  treasures. 
The  majority  of  the  choir  lights  were  set  up  between  1250 
and  1260.  Those  in  the  radial  chapels  are  somewhat  earlier; 
in  the  long  Lady  chapel  is  a  notable  Tree  of  Jesse.  The  upper 
windows,  contemporaries  of  those  at  Tours,  have  large  figures 
with  signatures  that  tell  us  their  donors  were  canons,  Bene- 
dictines,1 Cistercians,  architects,  drapers  (the  donors  of  the 
fourth  window),  furriers  (who  gave  the  fifth),  innkeepers  and 
publicans  (who  presented  the  sixth).  The  seventh  window — in 
the  center  of  the  apse — was  the  gift  of  Bishop  Geoffrey  de 
Loudon.  In  the  thirteenth  window  bakers  pour  grain  into 
sacks  and  take  bread  from  the  oven. 

In  the  clearstory  of  the  inner  aisle  the  legend-medallion  type 
of  window  is  retained.  The  first  two  bays  were  filled  by  Bishop 
Guillaume  Roland  (1255-58)  here  portrayed.  The  vintners 
presented  the  next  light,  for,  on  the  "day  of  benediction"  in 
1254,  when  each  of  the  town  guilds  brought  a  giant  candle,  the 
vintners  chose  to  donate  a  light  that  would  burn  longer,  so 
they  set  up  this  dazzling  window  of  St.  Julian.2  Over  the  en- 
trance to  the  Lady  chapel  Bishop  Geoffrey  is  again  portrayed, 
and  in  the  eleventh  bay  Pope  Innocent  IV  appears. 


1  In  Le  Mans  are  two  Benedictine  churches  of  archaeological  interest.  De  Culiura 
Dei  is  now  Notre-Dame-de-la-Couture.  When  the  church  was  rebuilt  after  a  fire 
in  11SO,  big  Plantagenet  Gothic  vaults,  each  section  with  eight  ribs,  were  flung  over 
the  wide  nave,  which  originally  had  possessed  side  aisles.  Vestiges  of  a  Carolingian 
church,  built  a  decade  before  1000,  are  in  the  crypt  and  the  lower  walls  of  choir  and 
transept,  where  alternance  of  stone  and  brick  work  appears.  The  chevet  is  the 
oldest  example  now  extant  of  an  ambulatory  and  radiating  chapel.  In  the  XII 
century  the  upper  choir  was  rebuilt,  and  again  it  was  retouched  during  the  XIII 
and  XV  centuries.  The  facade  and  the  well-sculptured  portal  are  late  XIII  century. 
A  charming  XVI-century  Virgin,  by  Germain  Pilon,  on  a  pier  opposite  the  pulpit,  is 
to  be  classed  with  the  prolongation  of  the  Region-of-the-I,oire  school  of  sculpture 
whose  center  was  Tours.  Across  the  Sarthe  lies  the  other  Benedictine  church,  the 
former  St.  Julien-du-Pre,  a  Romanesque  edifice  of  the  XI  and  XII  centuries,  revaulted 
in  the  Flamboyant  Gothic  day. 

2"O  noble  peuple  d'artisans!  Si  grands,  que  les  artistes  d'aujourd'hui  n'existent 
pas  aupres  de  vous!" — RODIN,  Les  cathedrates  de  France. 

278 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER   GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

A  hundred  years  separate  Le  Mans'  splendid  specimens  of 
Xlll-century  art  from  certain  small  lancets  in  the  cathedral's 
nave,  made  probably  by  Suger's  own  workers  of  St.  Denis, 
who  came  here  when  they  had  finished  the  three  lancets  in 
Chartres'  f  agade.  M.  Male  has  proved  that  all  the  XH-century 
windows  in  the  west  of  France  derive  from  St.  Denis.  Le 
Mans'  lancets  show  the  same  robes,  the  same  borders 
of  medallions  as  in  the  Suger  lights  at  Chartres.  The  up- 
gazing  apostles  in  Poitiers'  Crucifixion  window  resemble  the 
apostles  in  Le  Mans'  Ascension.  The  large  much-restored 
light  in  the  west  fagade,  relating  the  story  of  St.  Julian, 
though  modeled  on  the  St.  Denis  school,  must  have  been 
executed  by  local  craftsmen;  it  is  rougher  workmanship  than 
the  XH-century  lancets  in  the  nave  aisles. 

Le  Mans  suffered  woefully  in  1562  when  the  Huguenots 
worked  their  will  for  three  months  on  the  cathedral's  treasures. 
A  choir  screen  with  three  hundred  figures,  a  contemporary 
of  that  at  Albi,  was  demolished,  windows  by  the  dozen  were 
broken,  and  there  was  a  holocaust  of  carved  altars  and  tombs. 
After  the  Revolution,  the  XIH-century  tomb  of  Berengaria 
of  Navarre,  the  childless  widow  of  Richard  Co3ur-de-Lion, 
was  set  up  in  the  transept.  For  thirty  years,  as  chatelaine 
of  Le  Mans,  she  watched  its  new  Gothic  sanctuary  rising. 
They  have  mistakenly  called  hers  the  house  of  a  XV-century 
lawyer  in  the  Grande  Rue. 

The  earliest  Renaissance  tomb  in  France  is  in  Le  Mans 
Cathedral,  that  of  King  Rene's  brother,  made  by  Laurana 
from  beyond  the  Alps.  The  effigy  reposes  in  Christian  fashion, 
but  near  by,  on  the  later  tomb  of  Guillaume  du  Bellay,  the 
deceased  is  represented  reclining  at  ease  amid  his  mundane 
books. 

THE   SAINTS  AT  SOLESMES.1 

No  one  can  speak  with  the  Lord  while  lie  prattles  with  the  whole  world. — 
HILDEBERT  DE  LAVARUiN,  bishop  of  Le  Mans  (1097-112,3). 


1  De  la  Tremblay,  Dom  Coutil,  L'eglise  abbaliale  dc  Solcsmes  (Solcsmes,  Imprimerie 
St.  Pierre,  1892),  folio;  Paul  Vitry,  Michel  Colombc  ct  la  sculpture  franqaixc  de  son 
temps  (Paris,  1901);  Dom  Guqjin,  Di-scrij'tion  (ley  deux  cglises  abbatialcs  dc  Solesmcs, 

279 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Bishop  Hoel,  who  worked  on  the  nave  of  Le  Mans  Ca- 
thedral, used  to  retire  for  meditation  to  the  priory  of  Solesmes, 
farther  down  the  Sarthe,  a  house  founded  in  1010  by  the 
lord  of  Sable  and  given  to  the  Benedictines  of  the  Cultura  Dei 
at  Le  Mans.  Closed  by  the  Revolution's  hurricane,  Solesmes 
was  reopened  in  1833  through  the  devoted  efforts  of  Dom 
Prosper  Gueranger,  who  made  it  a  modern  Cluny  for  erudition, 
for  arts  and  crafts,  and  above  all  for  church  music.  Solesmes 
restored  to  the  church  the  Gregorian  chant  in  its  purity. 
Cowled  architects  of  the  XIX  century  rebuilt  their  monastery. 
On  their  own  printing  press  the  monks  brought  out  books. 
Guests  came  here  to  find  peace  of  mind  and  inspiration.  At 
Solesmes  Montalembert  wrote  the  noble  chapter  on  the  Middle 
Ages  that  prefaces  his  History  of  St.  Elizabeth  of  Hungary.1 

The  traveler  from  Le  Mans  to  Angers  should  quit  the  train 
at  Sable  and  walk  two  miles  to  the  now  deserted  monastery 
on  the  Sarthe.  In  the  transept  of  its  church  are  the  groups 
of  images  called  Les  Saints  de  Solesmes,  work  that  ranks 
with  the  most  vigorous  final  samples  of  the  national  art, 
and  that  are  in  spirit  profoundly  a  part  still  of  the  Middle 
Ages  despite  Renaissance  arabesques  and  pilasters. 

What  master,  or  masters,  made  the  Solesmes  groups  has 
led  to  animated  controversy.  They  belong  to  the  Region-of- 
the-Loire  school,  of  which  Tours  was  the  center,  and,  like 
Michel  Colombe's  work,  in  them  the  harsh  realism  of  the 


and  also  his  Solesmes  el  Dom  Gueranger  (Le  Mans,  1876);  Dom  Gueranger,  VAnnee 
Liiurgique  (Paris,  1888),  12  vols.,  tr.  Worcester,  England,  The  Liturgical  Year,  and 
also  his  Etudes  historiques  de  Vabbaye  de  Solesmes;  Cagni  et  Mocquereau,  Plain  chant 
and  Solesmes  (tr.  London,  1902). 

Among  those  who  have  taken  part  in  the  discussion  as  to  who  made  the  sculptural 
groups  at  Solesmes  are  L.  Palustre,  Girardet,  Charles  and  Louis  de  Grandmaison, 
Benj.  Fillon,  Celestin  Port,  Lambin  de  Lignin,  E.  Cartier,  A.  Salmon,  and  Abbe 
Bosseboeuf. 

1  The  church  of  St.  Elizabeth,  in  Marburg,  is  one  of  the  earliest  Gothic  monuments 
in  Germany,  1235-83.  The  saint  was  linked  with  the  new  system  of  building.  For 
the  king  of  Hungary,  Villard  de  Honnecourt  built  Kassovie  church.  Her  aunt  was 
the  gentle  Agnes  of  Meran,  married  to  Philippe-Auguste.  Her  half  sister,  Yolande, 
wedded  that  other  builder  of  churches,  Jaime  el  Conquistador,  from  whom  sprang 
\  olande  of  Aragon,  King  Rene's  mother,  also  a  builder.  St.  Elizabeth's  niece,  daughter 
of  the  king  of  Hungary,  married  Charles  II  d'Anjou,  who  began  the  best  Gothic 
church  in  Provence,  at  St.  Maximin. 

280 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

preceding  school  of  Burgundy  has  been  softened,  and  the 
draperies  made  supple  and  less  overwhelming.  If  the  Maitre 
de  Solesmes  is  not  Colombe  himself,  he  was  some  one  trained 
in  his  art  school  at  Tours,  perhaps  some  monk  in  this  priory. 

The  entombments  at  Solesmes  are  the  best  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  with  that  of  Ligier  Richier  at  St.  Mihiel.1  Interest  centers 
chiefly  in  the  Entombment  of  Christ,  the  earliest  and  finest 
group,  made  about  1496  under  Prior  Cheminart,  whose  crest  is 
cut  on  the  stones.  No  Holy  Sepulcher  can  compare  with  this 
in  contained  and  sustained  emotion.  Its  classic  moderation  is 
very  different  from  the  dramatic,  almost  violent,  sculpture 
soon  to  be  made  popular  by  the  Renaissance  from  Italy. 

The  two  men  who  lower  the  dead  Christ  into  the  tomb, 
Nicodemus  (bearded)  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea  (shaven,  for 
such  was  the  ritual  in  the  mystery  plays),  are  powerful  images, 
and  the  latter  is  indubitably  a  portrait  study,  but  of  whom 
is  not  known.  The  Christ  type  could  not  be  nobler.  The 
Virgin's  grief  is  rendered  without  emphasis,  and  St.  John, 
supporting  her,  is  an  admirable  image.  But  the  supreme 
saint  of  Solesmes  is  the  Magdalene,  seated  beside  the  tomb, 
her  head  bowed,  her  lips  pressed  against  her  crossed  hands. 
She  is  garbed  in  as  homely  fashion  as  her  sister  Martha  in 
St.  Madeleine's  church  at  Troyes — sisters  in  blood  and  sisters 
by  the  heart  are  these  two  admirable  conceptions  of  late- 
Gothic  sculpture.  Nothing  could  be  gentler,  more  discreet, 
more  poignant  in  emotion,  than  the  Magdalene  of  Solesmes, 
"the  exquisite  flower  of  the  art  of  the  Loire  region,"  says 
M.  Paul  Vitry,  "one  of  the  masterpieces  of  French  imagery 
of  all  times." 

"She  is  alive,  she  breathes  gently,"  wrote  Dom  Gueranger, 
"her  silence  is  at  the  same  time  both  grief  and  a  prayer." 
Dom  de  la  Tremblaye  asks  what  Italian  master  of  the  Renais- 
sance has  rendered  faith  more  profoundly  than  this  Magda- 
lene, whose  desolation  is  closer  to  a  smile  of  ecstasy  than  to 
the  contraction  of  grief.  Even  the  neo-classic  XVII  century 

1  Amedee  Boinet,  Verdun  et  St.  Mihiel  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris, 
H.  Laurens). 

281 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

admired  this  image,  and  Richelieu  wished  to  transport  it  to 
his  chateau  in  Poitou. 

Some  fifty  years  later,  while  Jean  Bougler  ruled  Solesmes, 
was  made  the  Burial  of  the  Virgin,  whose  setting  is  entirely 
of  the  Renaissance,  though  the  imagery  remains  faithful  to 
the  French  Gothic  spirit.  It  is  said  that  the  monk  at  Our 
Lady's  feet  represents  the  prior,  Jean  Bougler  (1515-56), 
who  returned  to  the  lord  of  Sable  the  eternal  answer  of  the 
spiritual  to  the  temporal  powers.  Accosted  one  day  on  the 
bridge  over  the  Sarthe  by  the  baron,  against  whom  he  had 
just  maintained  the  priory's  rights,  the  irate  layman  cried 
out:  "Monk,  if  I  did  not  fear  God,  I  should  throw  you  into 
the  Sarthe."  "If  you  fear  God,  Monseigneur,"  replied  the 
prior,  "I  have  nothing  to  fear." 

ST.   QUENTIN'S   COLLEGIATE   CHURCH  1 

Out  in  the  night  there's  an  army  marching  .  .  . 

Endless  ranks  of  the  stars  o'er-arching 

Endless  ranks  of  an  army  marching  .  .  . 

Measured  and  orderly,  rhythmical,  whole, 

Multitudinous,  welded  and  one  .  .  . 

Out  in  the  night  there's  an  army  marching, 

Nameless,  noteless,  empty  of  glory, 

Ready  to  suffer,  to  die,  and  forgive, 

Marching  onward  in  simple  trust.  .  .  . 

Endless  columns  of  unknown  men, 

Endless  ranks  of  the  stars  o'er-arching,  .  .  . 

Out  in  the  night  they  are  marching,  marching  .  .  . 

Hark  to  their  orderly  thunder-tread! 

— ALFRED  NOTES,  Rank  and  File.2 

In  size,  if  not  in  name,  the  church  that  tops  St.  Quentin's 
hill  is  a  cathedral,  an  achievement  of  the  apogee  hour  of 

1  Amedce  Boinet,  St.  Qucntin  (Paris,  H.  Latirens);   Ch.  Gomart,  "Notice  sur  1'eglise 
de  St.  Quentin,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1856,  p.  226;    anJ  1870,  p.  201;    Pierre 
Benard,  Monographic  dc  Veglise  de  St.  Quentin  (Paris,  1867),  8vo;   also  his  studies  in 
the  publication  of  the  Societe  Academique  .  .  .  de  Soissons,  1864,  p.  260;   and  1874, 
p.  300;    Lecocq,  Histoire  de  la  mile  de  St.  Quentin  (St.  Quentin,  1875);  J.  B.  A.  Lassus, 
ed.,  i:  album  dc  Villard  de  Honacort  (Paris,  1858;   and  London,  tr.  by  Willis,  1859); 
Jules  Quichcrat,  Melanges  d'archeologie  ct  d'histoire  (1886),  vol.  2,  on  Villard  de  Hon- 
necourl's  album;    Camille  Enlart,  Hotels  dc  rillc  ct  beffrois  du  nord  de  la  France  (Paris, 
II.  Laurens,  1919);  ibid,  on  Villard  dc  Honnecourt,  in  Bibli.  de  FEcole  des  chartes,  1895. 

2  Alfred  Noycs,  Collected  Poems  (London,  Methuen;  New  York,  Fred.  A.  Stokes  Co.). 


SOME  OF  THE  LESSER  GREAT  CATHEDRALS 

Gothic  fitted  to  close  this  group  of  stately  churches.  Through- 
out the  World  War  battles  raged  round  St.  Quentin.  The 
saints  buried  in  its  crypts,  the  cloud  of  witnesses  in  its  window 
and  sculptured  groups,  listened  year  after  year  to  the  march- 
ing millions,  marching  in  the  hope  that  a  better  world  might 
emerge  from  the  chaos,  ready  to  suffer  and  die  and  forgive. 

St.  Quentin  has  always  stood  in  the  path  of  invading  armies. 
Much  of  its  precious  glass  was  destroyed  in  1557,  when  Philip 
II  of  Spain  attacked  the  town  on  St.  Laurence  day,  and  in 
memory  of  his  victory  built  the  Escorial.  The  siege  of  1870 
damaged  the  city  dedicated  to  Caius  Quintinus,  the  Roman 
senator's  son  who  evangelized  this  region  where  he  met  a 
martyr's  death.  In  August  of  1914  the  invaders  passed  in 
swift  advance  on  Paris.  When  the  Marne  battle  drove  them 
back,  they  dug  themselves  into  trenches  a  mile  from  St. 
Quentin's  suburbs  and  there,  with  tragic  monotony,  the 
giant  battle  fluctuated.  On  August  15,  1917,  suddenly, 
like  a  candle  in  the  night,  St.  Quentin's  great  church  flamed 
up,  lighting  the  country  for  miles  around.  The  projectiles 
came  from  the  south  where  the  invaders,  not  the  Allies,  were 
intrenched.  From  beneath  this  hill,  in  April  of  1918,  started 
the  final  desperate  thrust  toward  Paris.  Four  months  later 
the  Allies,  taking  the  offensive,  swept  all  before  them,  and 
in  October  the  Germans  quitted  the  city  in  too  great  haste 
to  destroy  the  big  church,  as  the  bored  holes  in  every  one  of 
its  piers  would  indicate  had  been  their  intention.  A  ghost 
of  its  former  self  is  the  collegiate  of  St.  Quentin  to-day.  The 
venerated  crypt,  part  of  which  dated  from  840,  was  blown  up 
with  gunpowder  before  the  evacuation  (1918).  The  notably 
good  XIII-  and  XV-century  windows  are  wrecked,  and  the 
Flamboyant  Gothic  Town  Hall,  close  to  the  church,  is  a  ruin. 

About  1115  was  begun  the  present  collegiate  as  a  Roman- 
esque edifice;  the  north  arm  of  the  easternmost  transept  and 
the  side  wall  between  it  and  the  larger  transept  are  pre-Gothic. 
St.  Quentin  is  an  exception,  in  France,  in  possessing  two 
transepts.  When  in  1257  St.  Louis  came  to  St.  Quentin  for 
the  removal  of  the  martyrs'  relics  to  the  new  crypt,  the  Gothic 

283 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

choir  was  completed.  Three  of  the  small  chambers  in  the 
XIH-century  crypt  are  of  Carolingian  origin,  and  vestiges 
of  Carolingian  work  remain  in  the  west  tower,  placed  directly 
before  the  church,  and  serving  as  a  kind  of  vestibule  to  it. 
Till  the  present  nave  was  extended  to  meet  that  ancient 
belfry,  it  stood  isolated. 

Fissures  showed  in  the  new  constructions  and  much  time 
was  wasted  in  consolidations.  Only  as  the  XIV  century 
opened  was  the  big  transept  between  choir  and  nave  begun; 
it  was  made  twenty  feet  wider  than  the  transept  between 
apse  curve  and  choir.  The  tracery  in  the  rose  windows  of 
both  cross  inclosures  is  most  artistic.  The  nave  continued 
building  all  through  the  XIV  century.  It  repeated  the 
shafts  which,  in  the  choir,  had  been  later  additions  needed 
for  consolidation.  Only  by  1470  was  St.  Quentin's  nave 
completed  by  joining  it  to  the  ancient  west  tower.  Three 
different  campaigns  of  work  built  this  church,  and  three 
breaks  in  its  axial  line  are  distinctly  visible.  Toward  its 
repairs  the  good  king  Charles  V  contributed,  and  Louis  XI 
bore  the  expense  of  remaking  the  small  transept. 

To  Villard  de  Honnecourt  is  attributed  the  plan  of  St. 
Quentin,  since  there  are  details  in  his  sketchbook — the  thirty- 
three  parchment  leaves  now  a  treasure  of  the  National  Library 
at  Paris — to  substantiate  the  claim.  His  annotations  are 
in  the  Picard  dialect.  St.  Quentin's  ordinance  followed  that 
of  Rheims  Cathedral  sketched  by  Villard.  The  planting 
of  columns  between  axis  chapel  and  ambulatory — a  Cham- 
pagne feature — is  the  kind  of  charming  novelty  which  would 
have  appealed  to  the  eager  traveler  who,  at  Kassovie,  made 
a  church  for  the  king  of  Hungary  wherein  he  repeated  the 
unique  fan-spreading  eastern  end  of  St.  Yved  at  Braine. 

Thus  he  opened  his  precious  book:  "Villard  de  Honnecourt 
salutes  you,  and  he  begs  all  those  who  work  at  different  classes 
of  studies  contained  in  these  pages,  to  pray  for  his  soul  and 
remember  him,  for  in  this  book  can  be  found  great  help  in 
teaching  oneself  fundamental  principles  of  masonry  and 
church  carpentry." 

284 


CHAPTER  VII 

Plantagenet  Gothic  Architecture  l 

II  n'y  a  pas  seulement  deux  principes  opposes  dans  1'homme. 
II  y  en  a  trois.  Car  il  y  a  trois  vies  et  trois  ordres  de  facult^s.  II 
y  a  trois  especes  de  dispositions  I'&me  bien  diff£rentes:  la  pre- 
miere, celle  de  presque  tous  les  hommes,  consiste  &  vivre  exclusive- 
ment  dans  le  monde  des  ph^nomenes  qu'on  prend  pour  des  realit^s. 
La  deuxieme  est  celle  des  esprits  les  plus  r6flechis  qui  cherchent 
longtemps  la  v6rit6  en  eux-memes  ou  dans  la  nature.  .  .  .  La 
troisieme  enfin  est  celle  des  &mes  6clair6es  des  lumieres  de  la  re- 
ligion, les  seules  vrai  et  immuables.  Ceux-la  seuls  ont  trouv6  un 
point  d'appui  fixe. — MAINE  DE  BIRAN  (1766-1825 ;  born  in  P6rigord) . 

HE  Gothic  of  the  southwest  grew  out  of  the 
meeting  of  the  cupola  church  of  Aquitaine 
with  the  intersecting  ribbed  vault  of  northern 
France.  It  rose  and  spread  in  a  region  then 
under  Plantagenet  rule,  Anjou,  Poitou,  Maine, 
and  Touraine.  As  the  first  known  vault  of  the  Angevin  type 
was  dated  approximately  1150,  and  as  the  system  died  out 
about  the  middle  of  the  XIII  century,  Plantagenet  Gothic 
was  but  an  incident  of  a  hundred  years  in  French  architecture. 
However,  it  was  a  phase  which  produced  monuments  of  such 
remarkable  individuality  and  grace  that  the  school  deserves 
more  notice  than  has  hitherto  been  given  it. 

The  dominant  feature  in  Plantagenet  Gothic  is  its  cup- 
shaped  vaulting.  The  French  term  "bombe"  is  more  exact 
than  such  expressions  as  "domical"  and  "domed."  The 
panels  of  an  Angevin  vault  do  not  form  parts  of  a  spherical 
dome.  The  keystone  of  each  section  is  raised  higher  than 

1  J.  Berthele,  " L'architecture  plantagenet,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1903,  p.  234; 
E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "  L'architecture  plantagenet,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1910; 
Prosper  Merimee,  Notes  d'un  voyage  dans  V Quest  de  la  France  (1836) ;  Choyer,  "  L'archi- 
tecture des  Plantagenets,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1871,  p.  257;  Celestin  Port, 
Dictionnaire  de  Maine-ct- Loire,  3  vols.;  Abbe  Bosseboeuf,  L'architecture  plantagenet 
(Angers,  Lachene,  1897). 

285 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  four  arches  framing  the  section.  Similar  vaults  were 
built  during  the  first  trials  of  diagonals  by  other  Gothic 
schools,  in  districts  where  there  were  no  cupola  churches 
to  serve  as  models.  They  were  the  result  of  inexperience 
in  constructing  ribbed-groined  vaults,  and  their  bombe  shape 
Disappeared  as  soon  as  architects  learned  to  raise  their  trans- 
verse and  wall  arches,  by  stilting  and  pointing  them,  to  the 
level  of  the  keystone.  While  the  so-called  domical  vault  in 
other  schools  had  been  a  transitional  step,  in  Plantagenet 
Gothic  it  was  intentionally  persisted  in  and  became  the  most 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  school. 

In  principle  and  in  construction,  the  Plantagenet  school  is 
truly  Gothic.  The  cells  are  carried  on  the  backs  of  diagonal 
ribs.  The  Angevin  builders  recognized  at  once  the  advantage 
of  concentrating  the  thrust  of  the  stone  roof  at  fixed  points 
and  counterbutting  and  grounding  the  load  at  those  points 
only,  so  they  followed  close  on  the  northern  architects  in 
adopting  the  new  system.  At  the  same  time  they  felt  that 
the  cupola  tradition  in  their  region  was  not  to  be  wholly  set 
aside.  M.  Anthyme  Saint-Paul  well  expressed  it  when  he 
said  that  southwestern  France  "s'est  conduit  en  nation  tributaire 
et  non  soumise" 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  presence  in  the  Planta- 
genet territories  of  churches  covered  by  a  number  of  small 
cupolas  encouraged  a  decided  curve  in  the  newly  imported 
diagonals.  It  was  not  for  nothing  that  near  Angers  and 
Saumur,  the  two  cities  where  Angevin  vaults  were  first 
constructed,  lay  the  famous  abbatial  of  Fontevrault,  a  master- 
piece of  the  cupola  school.  Had  not  the  arrival,  midway  in 
the  XII  century,  of  the  northern  French  type  of  masonry 
roof  checked  the  construction  of  such  churches,  it  is  probable 
that  they  would  have  extended  farther  north.  From  the 
meeting  of  the  two  schools  developed  the  Plantagenet  phase 
of  Gothic. 

Before  proceeding  to  a  description  of  the  successive  steps 
taken  by  Plantagenet  architecture  in  its  best-known  examples 
at  Angers,  Saumur,  and  Poitiers,  it  is  well  to  touch  on  the 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

cupola  churches  of  southwestern  France,  building  for  a  century 
before  the  beginning  of  the  regional  Gothic  school.  M.  de 
Lasteyrie  has  divided  Romanesque  architecture  into  some 
half  dozen  schools — those  of  Normandy,  Burgundy,  Auvergne, 
Poitou,  the  Midi,  Champagne,  and  the  scarcely  enunciated 
Picardy  Ile-de-France  school.  To  these  he  added  two  isolated 
developments  of  short  duration,  one  typified  at  Tournus,  in 
Burgundy,  where  half  barrels  are  placed  transversely  across 
a  nave;  and  the  other  consisting  of  cupola-covered  edifices 
which  were  building  from  Saintes  to  Fontevrault  in  the  same 
hour  as  the  Poitou-Romanesque  churches  surrounding  them. 
For  three  generations  the  cupola  haunted  the  imagination 
of  southwestern  France.  The  majority  of  them  came  into 
existence  by  hazard,  as  it  were.  They  were  not  in  the  first 
plan  of  the  church,  but  were  built  to  replace  other  roofs, 
and  in  France  they  have  been  set  on  every  kind  of  pedestal.1 
They  were  a  variant  of  the  barrel  vault  of  the  region  preferred 
because  less  material  was  required. 

How  the  cupola  arrived  in  Aquitaine  is  still  an  open 
question.  M.  de  Lasteyrie  has  belittled  the  explanation  of 
an  Oriental  source,  since  the  mode  of  construction  in  France 
differed  from  that  of  cupolas  in  the  East.  His  idea  is  that 
the  use  of  the  cupola  never  died  out  from  the  earlier  days  in 
Gaul,  and  that  the  domed  churches  of  France  may  be  con- 
sidered to  be  fairly  indigenous.  M.  Enlart  has  contended 
that  no  matter  how  or  when  the  use  of  the  cupola  got  into 
France,  its  origin  was  undeniably  Byzantine,  since  Rome 


1  Saintes  lies  on  the  Charente,  some  fifty  miles  from  Angouleme.  In  the  venerable 
Xll-century  church  of  St.  Eutrope  cropped  out  one  of  the  early  sporadic  uses  of 
diagonals.  Its  crypt,  which  is  one  of  the  largest  in  France,  is  braced  on  heavy,  semi- 
circular arches.  The  exterior  of  the  apse  is  decorated.  Nothing  is  left  of  the  original 
nave;  the  present  one  is  transitional  work.  The  choir  and  part  of  the  transept  are 
of  the  XV  century.  The  superb  tower,  with  corner-turret  effects  that  rise  from  base 
to  summit,  was  finished  with  a  spire  by  1480.  It  is  said  that  John  XXII,  who  pro- 
mulgated the  Angelus  by  his  bull  of  1318,  had  learned  its  usage  from  a  custom  of  St. 
Eutrope.  The  church  of  St.  Pierre,  at  Saintes,  rebuilt  in  1117,  and  again  in  1450, 
has  another  Flamboyant  Gothic  tower  of  good  design,  which  is  now  much  wasted 
by  decay.  See  Congres  Archcologique,  1894;  1912,  pp.  195,  309;  also  Bulletin  Mon- 
umental, 1907,  vol.  71;  J.  Laferriere  et  G.  Musset,  L"art  en  Saintonge  et  en  Aunis; 
Ch.  Dangibeaud,  L'ecole  de  sculpture  romane  saintongeaise  (Paris,  1910). 

287 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

took  the  feature  from  Byzantium.  He  has  dwelt  on  the  fact 
that  it  was  while  such  churches  were  building  in  France,  the 
men  of  western  Europe  were  going  on  pilgrimages,  on  crusades, 
and  on  trading  ventures  into  countries  where  the  cupola  was 
a  common  feature. 

ST.  FRONT  AT  PtiRIGUEUX.  » 

Is  it  not  better  to  dwell  a  little  sadly  far  from  the  world,  under  the  hand 
of  God?  The  world  gives  but  vain  pleasures.  You  will  be  like  others 
beguiled  by  it  and  hardened.  You  will  hear  many  evil  conversations,  you 
will  see  many  contemptible  pushing  people  with  distinguished  names,  you 
will  feel  malignant  envy,  many  will  be  the  faults  with  which  you  will  re- 
proach yourself.  .  .  .  Nothing  is  good  apart  from  Peace.  Peace  is  the 
mark  of  God's  finger.  All  that  is  not  Peace  is  but  illusion,  and  disturbing 
self-love.  ...  Be  simple  and  insignificant,  and  Peace  will  be  your  reward. 
It  is  only  you  yourself  who  can  trouble  your  own  Peace.  It  is  in  forgetting 
self  that  Peace  comes. — FENELON  (1651-1715;  born  near  Pe*rigueux). 

The  most  discussed  of  the  cupola  churches  is  St.  Front  at 
Perigueux.  For  a  while  it  was  considered  a  mother  church 
of  the  school,  but  such  well-constructed  domes  are  a  culmi- 
nation, not  a  beginning.  One  of  the  oldest  cupolas  extant 
is  that  of  St.  Astier,  near  Perigueux,  finished  in  1018;  there 
are  two  large  domes  over  Cahors  Cathedral,  in  which  church 
Pope  Calixtus  II  blessed  an  altar  in  1119. 2  The  two  cupolas 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1858,  1901,  and  1910;  Chanoine  Roux,  Monographic  de 
St.  Front  de  Perigueux  (Perigueux,  1920);  J.  A.  Brutails,  "La  question  de  St.  Front," 
in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1895,  p.  125;  1906,  p.  87;  1907,  p.  517;  Anthyme  Saint-Paul, 
on  St.  Front,  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1888,  p.  163;  1891,  p.  321;  1906,  p.  5;  Felix 
de  Verneilh,  L 'architecture  byzantine  en  France,  1851;  R.  Michel-Dansac,  De  I'emploi 
des  coupoles  sur  la  rtcf  dans  le  sud-ouest  Aquitain;  Corroyer,  L' architecture  romane, 
1888;  ibid.,  IS  architecture  gothique,  1899;  Ch.  H.  Besnard,  "fitude  sur  les  coupoles 
et  voutes  domicales  du  sud-ouest  de  la  France,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1912,  vol.  2, 
p.  118;  Abbe  Pecout,  Perigueux;  R.  Phene  Spiers,  "St.  Front  de  Perigueux  et  les 
assises  a  coupoles,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1897;  1907,  p.  175. 

1  The  cathedral  of  Cahors  was  damaged  by  earthquake  in  1303,  after  which  its  apse 
was  rebuilt  as  Gothic,  but  not  too  much  out  of  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  church. 
The  ancient  frescoes  are  full  of  interest.  At  the  north  end  of  the  transept  is  a  now 
unused  portal,  whose  sculpture  belongs  to  the  same  Midi  school  as  Moissac,  but  later 
and  calmer  work.  The  Christ  of  its  tympanum  is  classed  with  Vezelay,  Chartres, 
and  Beaulieu — the  supreme  Christ  images  of  Romanesque  art.  M.  Forel  praises 
the  angels'  magnificent  gesture  of  adoration.  The  XlV-century  west  front  resembles 
those  of  the  Brunswick  churches  whose  fagade  and  towers  comprise  one  massive  up 
to  the  roof.  John  XXII  (1316-33),  the  second  Avignon  pope,  was  born  in  Cahors, 

288 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

over  Cahors'  unaisled  nave  appear  in  the  exterior  view,  but 
were  not  well  enough  constructed  for  their  inner  surfaces  to 
be  left  uncovered  by  coats  of  plaster,  whereas  the  interior 
masonry  of  St.  Front  is  beautifully  finished,  proving  that  in 
point  of  time  it  was  separated  from  St.  Astier. 

Long  and  heated  have  been  the  controversies  over  the  date 
of  the  cathedral  of  Perigueux.  As  much  space  has  been  de- 
voted to  the  discussion  as  to  the  little  Morienval  in  the  Ile-de- 
France.  At  first  it  was  taken  to  be  the  church  begun  before 
1000  and  dedicated  in  1047.  To-day  no  one  dreams  of  saying 
it  predates  the  fire  of  1120.  A  few  of  the  bays  of  the  ancient 
church,  burned  in  1120  with  much  loss  of  life,  were  retained 
as  parish  rooms  and  now  stand  to  the  south  of  the  present 
cathedral's  fagade.  It  is  very  evident  that  they  never  were 
intended  to  be  incorporated  in  the  new  church. 

Once  it  was  thought  that  the  actual  St.  Front,  which  is  in 
the  shape  of  a  Greek  cross,  with  a  dome  over  each  of  its  arms, 
copied  St.  Mark's  at  Venice.  St.  Mark's  was  modeled  on 
the  church  of  the  Apostles  at  Constantinople,  destroyed  by 
Mohammed  II  in  1464.  However,  its  domes  were  added  only 
when  the  basilica  was  rebuilt,  in  1063.  And  furthermore,  there 
are  indications  at  St.  Front  to  show  that  the  original  design 
was  to  lengthen  its  nave  by  another  bay,  which  would  have 
changed  the  plan  from  a  Greek  cross  to  the  universally  used 
Latin  cross. 

The  present  St.  Front  was  begun  after  1120  and  probably 
was  completed  by  1180,  in  which  year  a  record  says  that 
Bishop  Pierre  de  Mimet  (1169-80)  moved  the  ancient  tombs 
into  the  basilica.  During  some  modern  repairs  parchments 
were  discovered  in  a  scaffold  hole  thirty  feet  from  the  ground 
and  closed  only  by  a  loose  stone.  The  MSS.  were  in  the 


where  he  founded  the  university,  contributed  toward  the  cathedral,  and  built  a  bridge 
over  the  Lot  which  is  considered  the  handsomest  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  diocese 
of  Cahors  is  Rocamadour,  the  most  picturesque  pilgrim  shrine  of  Our  Lady  in  France, 
visited  by  St.  Louis.  E.  Rey,  La  cathedrale  St.  fitienne  de  Cahors  (Cahors,  J.  Girma, 
1911);  Congrcs  Archeologique,  1907,  p.  413;  Alexis  Forol,  Voyage  au  pays  des  sculpteurs 
romans,  vol.  2,  p.  52;  "Le  cloitre  de  la  cathedrale  de  Cahors,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental, 
1883,  p.  110;  E.  Rupin,  Roc-amadour  (Paris,  Baranger,  1904). 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Romance  dialect  of  the  XII  century,  and  were  abusive  of 
Henry  II  of  England,  who  besieged  Perigueux  in  Bishop  de 
Mimet's  time.  Such  a  hiding  place  for  compromising  papers 
might  well  have  been  thought  of  during  the  last  stage  of  a 
building  while  yet  the  scaffolding  stood  in  place. 

St.  Front's  interior  possesses  a  fine,  plain  solidity  of  its  own, 
but  its  garish  \vhite  walls  cry  out  for  mosaics  or  fresco.  The 
cupolas  rise  above  the  big  arcades  without  any  vertical  founda- 
tion members.  Each  is  divided  into  a  hemispherical  dome 
and  a  drum  having  the  shape  of  spherical  triangles.  So 
massive  are  the  square  piers  supporting  the  cupolas  that  nar- 
row corridors  have  been  threaded  through  them.  Those  dense 
piles  of  masonry  saved  St.  Front  when  the  Huguenots 
lighted  bonfires  at  the  base  of  the  piers.  St.  Etienne,  formerly 
the  cathedral  of  Perigueux,  was  devastated  then,  so  that  only 
two  of  its  cupolas  remain;  the  westernmost  one  is  rougher, 
earlier  work. 

The  restorer,  Abadie,  took  deplorable  liberties  with  St.  Front, 
but  it  is  an  exaggeration  to  call  it  a  modern  church  studied 
from  a  Romanesque  original.  Abadie  from  1865  to  1875 
reconstructed  the  great  broad  arches  hitherto  slightly  pointed, 
and  the  actual  sanctuary  is  entirely  his  work.  Oriental  and  un- 
French  as  is  the  exterior  of  Perigueux  Cathedral  with  its  white 
domes,  its  neo-minarets,  its  immense  tower  each  of  whose 
stories  is  lesser  in  size  than  the  one  below  it,  and  whose  summit 
is  a  pavilion  covered  with  the  inverted  tiles  called  pineapple 
scales,  one  has  to  accept  the  disconcerting  fact  that  it  was 
building  in  the  same  year  with  the  cathedrals  at  Paris  and 
Laon.  Well  has  St.  Front  been  called  an  archaeological 
monster  defying  the  laws  of  that  science. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  ANGOULEME.i 

If  we  wish  to  know  all  that  is  worthy  of  being  imitated,  we  must  make  of 
legends  a  part  of  our  studies  and  observations.  The  marvel  of  the  lives 
of  the  saints  is  not  their  miracles,  but  their  conduct. — JOUBERT,  Pensees 
(1754-1824;  born  in  Perigord). 

1  Congres  Archcologique,  1847,  1903,  and  1912;  Biais,  La  cathedrale  d'Angouleme 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens);  II.  de  la  Mauviniere,  Poitiers  et  Angouleme  (Collection,  Villes 

290 


*} 


Angouleme  Cathedral.  A  Xll-century  Cupola  Church 
of  Aquitaine  with  a  Typical  Facade  of  Potion's 
Romanesque  School 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

The  cathedral  of  Angouleme  shares  with  St.  Front  and 
Fontevrault  the  distinction  of  being  the  finest  cupola  church 
in  France.  It  is  unsurpassed  in  the  setting  on  the  edge  of  the 
city's  steep  hill  above  the  Charente  valley.  In  ancient 
Angoumois,  now  the  department  of  the  Charente,  are  over 
five  hundred  Xll-century  Romanesque  churches.1 

Angouleme  Cathedral  was  begun  in  1109  by  Bishop  Gerard 
(1101-36),  who  had  taught  at  Perigueux  in  the  cathedral  school 
and  no  doubt  learned  there  to  admire  cupolas.  His  first  dome 
at  Angouleme — the  easternmost  one — is  slightly  later  than 
the  older  cupola  of  St.  Etienne  at  Perigueux.  Bishop  Gerard 
had  the  moral  courage  to  rebuke  the  sinful  union  of  the 
troubadour-duke,  Guillaume  IX,  and  the  fair  Vicomtesse 
Malbergeon,  whose  portrait  he  wore  on  his  shield  when  he 
marched  into  battle.  Guillaume  informed  Gerard  that  only 
when  hair  grew  on  his  bald,  prelate  pate  would  he  give  up 
the  lady  of  his  affections.  Gerard  was  papal  legate  in  Gaul 
for  Pascal  II,  Calixtus  II,  and  the  second  Honorius,  and  was 
the  prelate  chosen,  because  of  his  eloquence,  to  be  spokesman 
for  the  bishops  who  opposed  Paschal  II's  compromise  with  the 
German  emperor  on  the  question  of  investitures.  And  yet 
this  able  man,  because  Innocent  II  had  not  renewed  his 
dignities,  joined  the  anti-pope  faction  and  took  with  him 

d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1908);  J.  George,  La  cathedrale  d' Angouleme 
(Angouleme,  Chasseignac,  1901-04);  Michon,  Histoire  de  I' Angoumois,  1846;  ibid., 
Statistique  monumentale  de  la  Charente,  1844;  Viollet-le-Duc,  Dictionnaire  de  I 'archi- 
tecture (see  article  coupole) ;  Sharpe,  A  Visit  to  the  Domed  Churches  of  Charente  (London, 
1876);  J.  A.  Brutails  and  Spiers,  "Les  coupoles  du  Perigord  et  de  1' Angoumois,"  in 
Bulletin  Monumental,  1895,  1897,  1906,  and  1907. 

1  Four  miles  from  Angouleme  is  the  curious  octagonal  church  of  St.  Michel  d'En- 
traignes  (1137),  built  up  to  its  big  dome,  as  it  were.  Close  to  it  is  Fleac,  whose  three 
cupolas  have  no  separate  bases,  but  are  pierced  directly  by  the  big  arcades,  which  is 
more  the  Byzantine  way  of  making  a  cupola  than  the  French.  Six  miles  from  An- 
gouleme are  the  ruins  of  La  Couronne  abbatial,  where  once  was  a  Plantagenet  Gothic 
choir;  and  ten  miles  away,  at  Roullet,  is  a  remarkable  sculptured  facade.  Aulnay's 
fine  church  has  a  decorated  front,  well-cut  capitals,  and  a  ribbed  cupola,  without 
distinct  pedestal.  Pont  1'Abbe  possesses  one  of  the  best  Romanesque  fagades  in 
France.  At  Ruffec  and  at  Civray  are  others.  There  is  a  church  at  Charroux  with  the 
curious  plan  of  three  aisles  round  a  central  octagon.  Cupola  churches  are  to  be 
found  at  Plazzac,  Bassac,  Gensac,  Cognac,  Souillac,  and  Solignac,  six  miles  from 
Limoges.  Studies  of  these  churches  by  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  L.  Serbut,  and  Andre 
Rhein  are  to  be  found  in  the  Congres  Archfologiquc,  1912. 

291 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Guilhuime  X  of  Aquitaine.  Only  the  passionate  genius  of 
St.  Bernard  was  able  to  end  the  scandal. 

The  cathedral  built  at  Angouleme  by  Bishop  Gerard,  like 
most  of  the  churches  of  the  southwest,  lacks  the  charm  of 
perspective,  since  it  has  neither  curving  processional  path 
nor  side  aisle.  A  note  of  force  is  given  to  the  interior  by  the 
strong  projection  of  the  buttress  piers,  more  salient  within  the 
church  than  without.  Farther  to  the  south,  when  the  Gothic 
day  had  dawned,  buttresses  were  to  be  disguised  as  walls 
between  the  side  chapels.  The  three  cupolas  that  roof  the 
nave — each  covering  a  large  square  bay — are  among  the  largest 
in  France.  The  side  walls  are  divided  at  mid-height:  below 
is  a  huge  blind  arch,  while  above  are  two  round-headed  win- 
dows. Angouleme's  hemispherical  domes  on  pendentives  were 
sufficiently  well  constructed  to  dispense  with  plaster  coat- 
ings, an  advance  over  Cahors  Cathedral  and  St.  Etienne  at 
Perigueux. 

At  the  transept-crossing  is  an  immense  dome  forming  within 
the  church  a  lantern  lighted  by  a  series  of  rolind-headed 
windows  that  open  in  its  pedestal.  The  arrangement  derives 
directly  from  the  Orient  and  is  rare  in  France.  A  very  fine 
tower,  whose  stories  lessen  as  they  rise,  covers  the  northern 
arm  of  the  transept,  and  till  the  cathedral  was  sacked,  during 
the  XVI-century  wars,  a  similar  tower  spanned  the  transept's 
southern  limb. 

Angouleme's  elaborate  XH-century  fagade  is  one  of  the 
noted  pages  of  monumental  decoration  in  France,  a  frontal 
more  of  ornate  beauty  than  of  power,  in  which  M.  Andre 
Michel  finds  the  influence  of  old  ivories.  Tier  on  tier  rise  its 
carven  scenes,  with  a  Christ  in  Majesty  crowning  the  whole. 
The  XlX-century  restorer,  M.  Paul  Abadie,  who  worked  such 
havoc  at  Perigueux,  took  equal  liberties  here.  He  made  the 
upper  story  with  its  turrets  topped  by  conical  spires,  and 
over-restored  the  principal  sculptural  groups.  These  pre- 
Gothic  churches  of  southwest  France  obsessed  his  imagination, 
for  when  he  came  to  design  a  church  of  his  own  he  put  up  on 
the  Mount  of  Martyrs  in  Paris  a  neo-Byzantine,  neo-Gothic 

292 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

basilica  most  strangely  reminiscent  of  Aquitaine  as  it  stands  in 
exotic  isolation  under  the  cold,  northern  sky. 

Angouleme's  west  facade  had  not  long  been  completed  when 
under  its  portal  passed  John  Lackland  to  be  married  to  the 
fourteen-year-old  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Angouleme, 
Isabella,  already  affianced  to  a  Lusignan.  Henry  III  of 
England,  the  builder  of  Westminster  Abbey,  was  the  fruit  of 
that  union.  Twenty  years  later  Isabella  married  the  son  of 
her  discarded  fiance,  and  her  jealousy  filled  France  with  war. 
Jezebel,  the  people  called  her.  She  rests  in  effigy  at  Fon- 
tevrault,  beside  the  tomb  of  her  great  father-in-law,  Henry 
II,  the  first  Plantagenet. 

FONTEVRAULT  ABBEY  CHURCH,  i 

A  trait  peculiar  to  this  epoch  is  the  close  resemblance  between  the  manners 
of  men  and  women.  .  .  .  Men  had  the  right  to  dissolve  in  tears,  and  women 
that  of  talking  without  prudery.  The  women  appear  distinctly  superior. 
They  were  more  serious,  more  subtle.  Richard  Coeur-de-Lion,  the  crowned 
poet-artist,  a  king  whose  noble  manners  and  refined  mind,  in  spite  of  his 
cruelty,  exercised  so  strong  an  impression  on  lus  age,  was  formed  by  the 
brilliant  Ali£nor  of  Aquitaine.  St.  Louis  was  brought  up  exclusively  by 
Blanche  of  Castile,  and  Joinville  was  the  pupil  of  a  widowed  and  regent 
mother. — GAREAU,  Social  State  of  France  During  the  Crusades. 

The  art  of  the  cupola  church  may  be  said  to  have  culmi- 
nated in  the  abbatial  at  Fontevrault  on  the  confines  of  Anjou, 
Poitou,  and  Touraine,  and  practically  the  northernmost  point 
to  which  attained  the  cupola  development  of  Aquitaine. 
Undoubtedly  it  would  have  spread  farther  afield  had  it  not 
been  checked — even  while  Fontevrault  was  building — by  the 
advent  of  ogival  ribs  which  initiated  a  new  manner  of  masonry 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1862  and  1910;  L.  Magne,  "L'ancienne  abbaye  de  Fonte- 
vrault," in  L' architecte,  1910,  p.  60;  A.  de  Caumont,  "Fontevrault,"  in  Bulletin 
Monumental,  1867,  p.  73;  Bernard  Palustre,  "Les  ooupoles  de  Fontevrault,"  in  Bul- 
letin Monumental,  1898,  vol.  63,  p.  500;  Honorat  Nicquet,  Histoire  de  I'ordre  de  Fonte- 
vraud,  1642;  G.  Malifaud,  L'abbaye  de  Fontevrault,  notices  historiques  et  archeologiques 
(Angers,  1866);  Abbe  Bosseboeuf,  Fontevrault,  son  histoire  et  scs  monuments  (Tours, 
1867);  fidouard,  Fontevrault  et  ses  monuments  (Paris,  1874),  2  vols.;  Joseph  Joubert, 
"Les  mausolees  des  Plantagenets  a  Fontevrault,"  in  Mem.  de  la  Soc.  d'arts 
<T Angers,  1903;  and  1906,  p.  61,  Chanoine  Urseau;  Victor  Pavie,  "Westminster  et 
Fontevrault,"  in  Mem.  de  la  Soc.  d'arts  d' Angers,  1866,  p.  229;  Histoire  litter aire 
de  la  France  (Paris,  1756),  vol.  10,  p.  153,  "Robert  d'Arbrissel." 

293 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

roofing.  In  Fontevrault's  bourg  is  a  village  church  covered 
gracefully  in  the  Plantagenet  Gothic  manner. 

The  untenable  theory  was  advanced  by  a  French  architect 
that  the  cupola  church  was  the  egg  out  of  which  hatched  the 
radical  organ  of  Gothic  architecture,  that  the  first  ribs  were 
employed  to  stiffen  a  dome.1  No  one  to-day  concedes  this. 
Yet,  though  cupola  monuments  may  not  have  affected  French 
Gothic  in  general,  they  certainly  exerted  a  local  influence  on 
the  Gothic  of  the  West.  The  hemispherical  domes  at  Fonte- 
vrault  were  directly  under  the  eye  of  the  first  architects  of 
Plantagenet  Gothic. 

An  abbess  ruled  over  men  at  Fontevrault.  Its  founder,  the 
Blessed  Robert  d'Arbrissel,  had  been  impressed  by  the  Saviour 
giving  St.  John  into  the  spiritual  guidance  of  the  Virgin. 
So  he  organized  a  new  Order  comprised  of  four  communities 
ruled  by  a  woman:  a  main  house  for  nuns  and  another  for 
men;  a  hospital  dedicated  to  St.  Lazarus,  and  a  house  for 
repentant  Magdalenes.  Robert  d'Arbrissel  was  a  Breton, 
schooled  in  Paris,  and  noted  for  his  eloquence,  which  so 
impressed  Urban  II,  who  heard  him  preach  at  the  dedication 
of  Angers'  church  of  St.  Nicolas,  that  he  named  him  an 
apostolic  missionary  to  spread  the  First  Crusade. 

Feeling  need  of  spiritual  renewal,  Robert  had  retired  for 
meditative  peace  to  these  forests  when  one  day  he  was 
attacked  by  bandits.  He  yielded  all  he  possessed  on  condition 
that  they  give  him  their  souls  to  guide,  and,  having  converted 
them,  the  name  of  their  chief,  Evrault,  was  given,  it  is  said, 
to  the  congregation  that  gathered  in  cells  about  the  holy 
man.  Pious  folk  came  and  sinners,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the 
halt  and  the  hale,  and  the  impetuous  Robert  called  them 
one  and  all  "the  poor  of  Christ."  "I  never  read  of  a  hermit," 
said  honest  old  Samuel  Johnson,  "but  in  imagination  I  kiss 
his  feet;  never  of  a  monastery  but  I  fall  on  my  knees  and 
kiss  the  pavement." 

1  Louis  Corroyer,  L1  architecture  gothique  (Paris,  1899),  p.  1.  "La  coupole,  sous  sa 
forme  symbolique,  est  1'oeuf  d'ou  est  sort!  un  systeme  architectonique  qui  a  cause  une 
revolution  cles  plus  fecondes  dans  le  domaine  dc  Tart." 

294 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC   ARCHITECTURE 

In  1106,  Paschal  II  approved  the  Order  and  in  Blessed 
Robert's  lifetime  some  five  thousand  gathered  at  Fontevrault. 
Abbot  Suger,  who  was  a  young  student  at  that  time  near 
the  new  abbey,  testified  to  the  edification  it  gave.  A  sermon 
by  the  Blessed  Robert  converted  the  fair  Bertrada  de  Mont- 
fort,  who  had  quitted  her  ignoble  husband,  Fulk  IV  of  Anjou, 
to  marry  Philip  I,  king  of  France,  which  illegal  union  kept 
churchmen  busy  during  sixteen  years;  she  callously  brought 
her  second  master  to  visit  her  first.  The  fight  which  Rome 
waged  to  preserve  monogamy  in  western  Christendom  deserves 
the  highest  praise.  Bertrada  died  the  second  abbess  of  Fonte- 
vrault. The  historic  names  of  France  compose  the  list  of 
abbesses.  The  young  widow  of  the  only  son  of  Henry  I  of 
England  retired  here,  after  the  loss  of  the  White  Ship,  and 
her  father,  Fulk  V  of  Anjou,  came  to  visit  her  as  he  quitted 
his  career  in  Europe  to  take  up  his  new  role  as  king  of  Jerusalem. 
Margaret  of  Burgundy,  the  builder  of  Tonnerre's  hospital 
hall,  and  second  wife  of  Charles  d'Anjou,  St.  Louis'  brother, 
was  educated  at  Fontevrault  by  her  aunt  the  abbess.  About 
1500  Abbess  Renee  de  Bourbon  built  the  Renaissance  cloister. 
To-day  the  famous  house  serves  as  a  state  prison. 

Fontevrault  church  played  a  part  in  the  Gothic  story.  Its 
earliest  cupola,  over  the  transept-crossing,  differs  from  those 
over  the  nave  in  that  its  base  is  not  distinct  from  its  dome. 
Angers  copied  it  in  its  churches  of  St.  Nicholas  and  St.  Martin, 
and  so  did  Saumur  in  St.  Pierre.  When  in  1119  Calixtus  II 
dedicated  Fontevrault,  the  church  consisted  of  the  present 
choir  and  the  transept.  During  the  first  quarter  of  the  XII 
century  the  aisleless  nave  was  spanned  by  four  cupolas  on 
clearly  defined  pedestals.  Perhaps  from  Angouleme  Cathe- 
dral came  the  fashion  of  domes  on  pendentives,  after  some 
Fontevrault  monks  had  gone  on  legal  business,  in  1117,  to 
the  capital  of  Angoumois. 

The  abbaye-double  was  favored  both  by  the  Angevin  rulers 
and  their  Poitevin  neighbors,  the  dukes  of  Aquitaine.  Henry 
II's  father  and  mother,  Geoffrey  the  Handsome  of  Anjou  and 
the  ex-empress  Matilda  of  England,  gave  generously  toward 

295 


the  building  of  the  new  church,  and  so  did  Alienor  of  Aqui- 
taine's  forbears  of  the  illustrious  house  of  Poitiers;  hence 
it  was  fitting  they  both,  Henry  and  Alienor,  should  lie  in 
burial  there.  When  Henry  Plantagenet  died  in  1189  in  his 
castle  at  Chinon,  which  the  old  chronicler  tells  us  rises  steeply 
from  the  Vienne  "straight  up  to  heaven" — the  Chinon  whither 
Jeanne  d'Arc  was  to  come  to  give  France  a  new  soul — the 
dead  monarch  was  carried  to  Fontevrault  church  near  by, 
instead  of  to  the  Grammont  he  favored,  the  mother-house 
of  a  new  Order  founded  by  Stephen  de  Tierney  in  1176.  The 
archbishop  of  Tours  came  to  Fontevrault  to  conduct  the 
funeral,  and  Henry's  rebellious  son,  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion, 
stood  by  while  they  lowered  into  the  tomb  the  great  admin- 
istrator who  gave  us  the  germs  of  our  jury  system,  the  man 
of  the  same  unbridled  passions,  the  same  strong  leadership 
in  arms  and  statecraft,  as  his  ancestor,  Fulk  Nerra,  who  had 
won  this  strip  of  middle  France  by  sheer  ability.  And  well 
Richard  might  feel  serious,  for  the  nine  generations  of  increas- 
ing prosperity,  promised  to  Fulk  I  of  Anjou,  ended  with  him. 

In  1199  the  Lion-hearted  himself  was  brought  to  Fonte- 
vrault for  burial;  he  had  begged  to  be  laid  in  penitence  at 
the  feet  of  the  father  he  had  defied,  like  the  true  Angevin  he 
was.  As  his  elder  brother  had  said:  "It  has  ever  been  the 
way  with  Plantagenets  for  brother  to  hate  brother,  and  for 
son  to  turn  against  father."  The  ceremony  for  Richard  in 
Fontevrault  abbey  church  was  conducted  by  St.  Hugh  from 
Lincoln,  where  he  was  raising  a  splendid  Early -English  cathe- 
dral. He  had  come  to  France  to  protest  to  Richard  against 
further  spoliation  of  his  see.  At  this  'shrouding  of  a  second 
Angevin  among  the  shrouden  women,'  Alienor  stood  beside 
the  nuns,  and,  the  ceremony  over,  St.  Hugh,  so  wise  and  holy 
amid  such  seething  passions,  proceeded  to  comfort  the  widowed 
Berengaria. 

Richard,  like  his  father,  was  a  cosmopolite.  "Miey  horn 
e  miey  baron,  Angles,  Norman,  Peytavin  et  Gascon"  he  sang 
in  his  prison  lay,  and  indeed  one  would  be  puzzled  to  know 
which  of  them  were  the  countrymen  of  him  whom  Guizot 

296 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

called  "the  bravest,  most  inconsiderate,  most  passionate, 
most  ruffianly,  most  heroic  adventurer  of  the  Middle  Ages." 

In  1204  his  equally  turbulent,  able,  and  seductive  mother, 
Alienor,  was  buried  at  Fontevrault  beside  the  husband  against 
whom  she  had  stirred  up  undutiful  sons,  and  who  in  his  last 
years  had  kept  her  shut  away  from  further  mischief.  From 
1122  to  1204  stretched  her  full  life;  queen  of  France  for  fifteen 
years,  queen  of  England  for  fifty,  a  pernicious  influence  upon 
them  both,  but  always  a  most  sensible  ruler  for  her  own 
Aquitaine.  She  passed  her  final  years  in  peaceful  Fonte- 
vrault, but  her  stormy  destiny  was  to  be  troubled  to  the  end. 
In  1204  her  grandson,  Arthur  of  Brittany,  besieged  her  in  a 
Midi  castle  where  she  was  visiting,  and  when  John  Lackland 
heard  of  his  mother's  plight  he  came  by  forced  marches  to 
her  relief  and  captured  Arthur,  who  soon  after  was  foully 
murdered.  Alienor  had  seen  the  rise  of  Gothic  at  St.  Denis, 
whose  corner  stone  her  French  husband  laid,  and  she  lived 
to  found  churches  of  the  gracious  Plantagenet  phase  of  the 
new  art.  But  true  daughter  of  the  Midi  that  she  was,  an 
Aquitaine  cupola  church  is  her  rightful  funeral  monument. 
In  her,  as  in  her  own  Midi  of  that  age,  culture  and  corruption 
were  precocious. 

The  fourth  of  the  famous  Plantagenet  tombs  at  Fonte- 
vrault which  England  has  tried  to  get  for  Westminster  Abbey, 
is  that  of  Isabelle  of  Angouleme  (d.  1247),  the  wife  of  John 
Lackland.  And  there  once  were  two  others,  the  tomb  of 
Richard  Cceur-de-Lion's  favorite  sister,  Jeanne  (d.  1199), 
who  became  the  fourth  wife  of  Raymond  VI  of  Toulouse, 
and  that  of  her  son,  Count  Raymond  VII  (d.  1249),  of  the 
Albigensian  wars — tombs  swept  away  either  by  the  Huguenots 
or  during  the  Revolution.  As  the  XIX  century  opened,  the 
Plantagenet  tombs  lay  forgotten  in  a  cellar.  When  England 
became  aware  of  their  value  they  were  shipped  to  Paris  in 
1846,  to  be  taken  across  the  Channel.  Luckily,  however, 
an  Angevin,  M.  de  Falloux,  became  minister  on  the  declara- 
tion of  the  Second  Republic,  and  the  four  precious  mausoleums 
were  returned  to  Fontevrault  church. 

297 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Alienor  was  ninth  in  descent  from  that  Duke  of  Aquitaine 
who  had  founded  great  Cluny  itself.  Her  grandfather,  Guil- 
laume  IX,  the  troubadour  duke,  was  a  benefactor  of  the 
newly  established  Fontevrault.  When  her  father  resigned 
his  dominion  in  penitence,  his  will  was  that  Alienor,  his 
heiress,  should  wed  the  son  of  the  king  of  France.  So  in 
Bordeaux  Cathedral,  in  1137,  Alienor  married  the  future  Louis 
VII.  No  temperaments  could  have  been  more  opposite.  In 
1249  she  took  the  Crusader's  cross  from  St.  Bernard,  at 
Vezelay — where  the  monks  were  building  their  glorious  basilica. 
At  Constantinople  her  troublous  beauty  roused  admiration, 
and  scandal  at  Antioch,  where  the  ruler  was  her  own  handsome 
young  uncle,  Raymond  of  Poitiers.1  Her  union  with  Louis 
became  an  irksome  bond  and  she  clamored  for  its  dissolution 
on  the  ground  of  consanguinity.  The  flouted  French  king 
was  only  too  happy  to  be  rid  of  her,  but  Abbot  Suger,  foreseeing 
all  too  clearly  the  national  calamity  that  would  be  precipitated 
.should  Alienor's  great  domains  pass  to  a  rival  of  France, 
held  together  the  mismatched  pair.  WTien  he  died,  in  1152, 
headstrong  Alienor  broke  loose,  and  as  she  rode  away  from 
the  court  of  France  the  great  lords  came  out  to  woo  her — 
one  of  them  even  tried  to  kidnap  her.  Because  she  craved  a 
strong  arm  to  revenge  herself  on  her  first  husband,  she  chose 
as  consort  young  Henry  Plantagenet,  Count  of  Anjou  and 
Maine,  and  Duke  of  Normandy;  she  was  thirty,  Henry  not 
yet  twenty.  Thus  began  the  long  Capet-Angevin  duel,  not 
to  be  fought  out  to  a  finish  until  1452,  when  all  that  Henry  II 
had  possessed  on  the  Continent  and  all  of  Alienor's  wide  do- 
main were  in  the  hands  of  the  king  of  France.  It  needed  a  St. 
Jeanne  to  atone  for  the  very  unsaintly  Alienor. 

From  this  unscrupulous,  mischief -making,  virile,  and  capable 
queen  of  the  XII  century  sprang  a  vigorous  brood  of  men 
and  women,  passionate  in  both  good  and  evil,  and  most  of 
them  enlightened  art  patrons,  builders  of  churches,  and 
writers  of  verses.  Coaur-de-Lion  was  a  troubadour.  John 


1  "Dans  ces  choses-la  on  eu  dit  plus  quil  ny  en  a,  mais  aussi  il  y  a  souvent  plus  qu'on 
eu  dit,"  says  the  discreet  historian  Mezerai. 


The  Plantagenet  Tombs  at  Fonfevrauli 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

Lackland's  son  built  Westminster  Abbey.  Alienor's  daughter, 
the  queen  of  Castile,  had  an  Angevin  architect  help  in  the 
building  of  Las  Huelgas,  by  Burgos.  Her  daughter  of  Cham- 
pagne set  the  trouveres  singing  of  Lancelot,  Tristan,  and 
Iseult.  Another  Eleanor  of  her  lineage  had  her  funeral  journey 
marked  by  sculptured  crosses  from  Lincolnshire  to  Charing 
Cross.  It  was  given  Alienor  to  make  some  atonement  for  the 
evil  she  brought  on  France  in  her  youth;  at  eighty  years  of 
age  she  went  into  Spain  to  bring  back  her  granddaughter, 
Blanche  of  Castile,  as  bride  for  the  grandson  of  the  discarded 
Louis  VII,  and  Blanche  gave  France  the  saint-king  who 
illuminated  his  realm  with  fair  churches.  Another  of  Alienor's 
great-grandsons  was  a  saint-king,  Ferdinand,  the  conqueror 
of  Seville,  who  founded  many  a  church.  Even  as  the  cruelty 
and  craft  of  John  Lackland  cropped  out  in  Charles  d'Anjou, 
whom  the  Sicilian  Vespers  punished,  so  the  culture  and  incon- 
sistency of  Co3ur-de-Lion  appeared  again  in  his  nephew  of 
Champagne,  Thibaut  IV,  the  maker  of  songs.  From  Alienor 
descended  Bishop  Eudes  de  Sully,  who  built  the  western 
portals  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris,  and  Henry  de  Sully,  who  had 
the  plans  drawn  for  Bourges  Cathedral.  Herself  an  outstand- 
ing figure  in  the  early  day  of  Gothic  art,  and  ancestress  of 
enlightened  builders,  much  can  be  forgiven  Alienor.  All  of 
which  brings  us  back  to  the  starting  point  of  our  chapter, 
the  formation  of  the  Plantagenet  Gothic  school  of  architecture. 

PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC 

The  XII  and  XIII  centuries  were  a  period  when  men  were  at  their  strong- 
est; never  before  or  since  have  they  shown  equal  energy  in  such  varied  direc- 
tions or  such  intelligence  in  the  direction  of  their  energy;  yet  these  marvels 
of  history — these  Plantagenets;  these  scholastic  philosophers;  these  archi- 
tects of  Rheims  and  Amiens;  these  Innocents  and  Robin  Hoods  and  Marco 
Polos;  these  crusaders  who  planted  their  enormous  fortresses  all  over  the 
Levant;  these  monks  who  made  the  wastes  and  barrens  yield  harvests — 
all,  without  apparent  exception,  bowed  down  before  the  woman.  The 
woman  might  be  the  good  or  the  evil  spirit,  but  she  was  always  the  stronger 
force. — HENRY  ADAMS. 

There  have  been  various  divisions  of  this  school,  and  it  is 
always  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  such  cut-and-dried  classifi- 

299 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

cations  are  arbitrary  and  made  use  of  merely  for  the  greater 
ease  of  the  student.  By  dividing  Plantagenet  work  into 
three  periods — preceded  by  a  brief  incubation  hour,  the 
twenty  years  before  1150 — it  is  easier  to  follow  the  evolving 
steps  of  this  brilliant  phase  of  the  builder's  art. 

During  the  short  introductory  stage  before  1150  the 
cupola  had  the  upper  hand  and  imposed  its  construction  on 
the  intersecting  ribs  just  imported  from  the  north.  The 
earliest  bombe  vaults  with  ribs  are  really  cupolas  still,  since 
the  stones  of  their  infilling  were  laid  in  concentric  rings  round 
and  round.  Only  a  small  number  of  these  ribbed  cupolas 
were  built. 

Then  in  the  first  phase  of  Plantagenet  Gothic  appeared 
the  ascendency  of  ribbed  vault  over  cupola.  The  dome  was 
lowered  and  the  stones  of  the  infilling  were  laid  like  those  of 
a  true  Gothic  vault,  not  horizontally,  round  and  round,  but 
vertically,  with  the  courses  running  parallel  with  the  ridges 
of  the  triangular  compartments  traced  by  the  diagonals. 
Each  of  the  four  triangular  cells  was  concave  in  both  direc- 
tions, with  a  groin  defining  its  axial  line.  Hence  eight  panels, 
not  four,  composed  the  bombe  vault,  groin  ridges  alternating 
with  ribs. 

Such  groin  lines  called  for  strengthening  ribs  beneath  them, 
since  a  curving  surface  has  more  need  of  a  bone  skeleton  to 
stiffen  it.  Given  the  bombe  shape,  it  was  inevitable  for  the 
architect  to  arrive  soon  at  the  use  of  ridge  ribs  between  the 
diagonals.  The  Plantagenet  vault  par  excellence  is  made 
up  of  eight  ribs  that  branch  from  a  central  keystone,  those 
ribs  being  of  the  same  slight  graceful  profile  as  the  arches 
framing  each  vault  section. 

For  a  time  the  rib  molds  of  the  First  Period  were  enormously 
heavy  and  wide,  like  the  diagonals  of  the  nave  of  Angers 
Cathedral — the  oldest  Angevin  Gothic  work  extant  (c.  1150). 
Their  profile  shows  two  large  round  molds  with  a  flat  space 
between.  Before  long  the  level  space  tended  to  swell  into 
a  roll  molding,  which  in  time  predominated  over  the  lateral 
ones;  such  are  the  diagonals  of  the  Trinite  church  at  Angers 

300 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

(c.  1170).  Finally,  the  side  rolls  died  out  altogether,  leaving 
one  slender  uniform  torus,  a  characteristic  of  the  Second 
Period  of  Plantagenet  art. 

When  the  lateral  and  transverse  arches  adopted  the  same 
delicate  profile  as  that  of  the  eight  branching  ribs,  there  was 
achieved  the  slender  elegance  and  rare  distinction  typical 
of  the  best  Plantagenet  interiors.  Keystones  were  richly 
carved,  and  pretty  figures  and  heads  were  added  where  the 
vault  ribs  met  the  framing  arches.  During  the  last  quarter 
of  the  XII  century  the  Plantagenet  school  was  building 
vaults  of  this  type,  and  they  remained  in  vogue  till  the  cup- 
like  shape  died  out  altogether.  In  Plantagenet  art  the  ram- 
ification and  intercrossing  of  ribs  had  a  structural  reason, 
since  they  were  the  logical  result  of  the  concave  outline  of 
the  vault  and  not,  like  the  supplementary  ribs  of  Flamboyant 
Gothic,  mere  ornamentations. 

In  the  third  and  final  period  of  Plantagenet  Gothic,  the 
ribs  ramified  more  and  more.  They  had  first  been  increased 
about  the  windows  of  apses,  because  an  eight-branch  vault 
was  better  suited  to  a  square  than  to  a  curve.  During  the 
years  preceding  1250,  the  ramification  of  the  ribs  grew  very 
complicated.  All  divisions  between  the  vault  sections  were 
eliminated,  and  the  masonry  roof  appeared  to  be  continuous, 
one  bay  melting  subtly  into  the  next — in  reality  a  cradle 
vault,  a  penetrations,  carried  on  intercrossing,  branching 
Gothic  ribs.  The  construction  of  such  stone  roofs  was  no 
easy  matter  and  comparatively  few  of  them  were  built. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  germ  of  the  Angevin  school 
when  carried  to  England,  then  under  the  same  Plantagenet 
rule,  developed  into  what  is  a  unique  architectural  glory, 
English  fan  tracery  vaulting. 

Most  of  the  monuments  of  Angevin  art  fall  under  the  three 
main  divisions  here  given.  Like  a  beautiful  hybrid,  the 
Plantagenet  stone  roof  passed  through  a  continuous  series 
of  transformations,  while  in  northern  France,  once  a  satis- 
factory masonry  vault  had  been  achieved,  it  was  adhered  to 
faithfully  as  a  classic  type  until  the  Flamboyant,  or  final,  phase. 

301 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Frequently  a  Plantagenet  church  is  extremely  plain  out- 
side, in  striking  contrast  with  the  aerial  grace  of  its  interior. 
The  cause  is  a  structural  one,  hence  satisfactory.  The  thrust 
of  a  bombS  vault  is  not  altogether  concentrated  on  branching 
ribs,  piers,  and  buttresses,  but  in  part  is  borne  by  the  inclosure 
walls.  Hence  these  latter  were  made  thick  and  pierced 
merely  by  lancet  windows;  with  such  walls  there  was  no 
need  of  flying  buttresses.  When  the  piers  were  somewhat 
relieved  of  the  roof  load  by  the  thick  walls,  they  could  be 
made  exceedingly  slender.  There  is  an  effect  of  gracious 
winsomeness  in  certain  Plantagenet  churches,  to  be  described 
only  by  such  words  as  "fairy like"  and  "Saracenic."  The 
transient  perfect  moment  of  the  art  of  northern  France  was 
seized  and  rendered  by  the  curving  transept  at  Soissons,  an 
ideal  vision  of  the  Beyond.  In  southwestern  France  the 
first,  fine,  careless  rapture  nothing  can  recapture  is  to  be  found 
in  St.  Serge  at  Angers,  of  lesser  genius  than  Soissons,  but, 
like  it,  possessed  of  an  enthrallment  that  is  enduring. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  ANGERS.1 

A  mon  avis,  ceux  qui  n'ont  pas  au  moins  le  tourment  religieux  ignorent 
la  moiti6  de  la  vie,  et  la  plus  belle,  la  moitie  de  la  pitie.  Un  esprit  est  bien 
incomplet  s'il  ne  s'eleve  pas  jusqu'a  sa  destinee,  et  un  cceur  est  bien  faible 
s'il  n'a  que  des  motifs  humains  d'agir,  de  se  contraindre,  et  de  se  donner 
ou  de  pardonner. — RENE  BAZIN  (born  in  Angers,  1850). 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1910,  the  cathedral  of  Angers;  p.  161,  Chanoine  Urseau; 
p.  182,  St.  Serge;  p.  228,  the  chateau;  p.  232,  1'eveche;  Louis  de  Farcy,  Monographic 
de  la  cathedrale  d' Angers  (1910),  3  vols.  and  album;  ibid.,  Les  vitraux  de  la  nef  de  la 
cathSdrale  d' Angers  (1912);  J.  Denais,  Monographic  de  la  cathedrale  d' Angers  (Paris, 
1899);  John  Bilson,  "Angers  Cathedral,  the  Vaults  of  the  Nave,"  in  Journal  of  the 
Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  1911-12,  p.  727;  also  in  the  Congres  Archeologique, 
1910,  vol.  2,  p.  203;  V.  Godard-Faultrier,  Repertoire  archeologique  de  I'Anjou  (1865); 
L.  Halphen,  Le  comte  d' Anjou  au  XP  siecle  (Paris,  Picard,  1906);  Leon  Palustre, 
La  Renaissance  en  France  (3  vols.),  vol.  3,  Anjou  et  Poitou  (Paris,  Quautin);  H. 
Jouin,  Lcs  musees  d' Angers  (Paris,  Plon,  1885),  4to;  Pean  de  la  Tuilerie,  Le  Maine 
et  I'Anjou;  Wismes,  Le  Maine  et  V Anjou,  historiques,  archeol.  e  pittorcsque  (Paris), 
2  vols.,  folio;  E.  Lelong,  "Histoire  et  mon.  d'Angers,"  in  Angers  et  I'Anjou  (1903); 
Lecoy  de  la  Marche,  Le  roy  Rene,  sa  vie,  son  administration  (Paris,  1875),  2  vols.; 
Kate  Norgate,  England  Under  the  Angevin  Kings  (London,  1887),  2  vols.;  De  Solies, 
Foulques  Nerra;  Celestin  Port,  Dictionnaire  historique,  geographiquc,  et  biographique 
de  M  aine-et-Loire  (Paris  and  Angers,  1874-78),  3  vols.  also  his  Notes  et  notices  angerins 
(Angers,  1879);  A.  J.  de  H.  Bushnell,  Storied  Windows  (New  York,  Macmillan  Com- 
pany, 1914);  Sir  J.  H.  Ramsay,  The  Angevin  Empire,  (London,  1903). 

302 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

No  city  in  southwestern  France  is  a  more  satisfactory 
center  for  a  comparative  study  of  Plantagenet  Gothic  than 
Angers — the  old  Black  Angers  of  history,  which  owed  its 
importance  not  to  any  pre-eminence  of  site,  but  to  the  pow- 
erful line  whose  cradle  land  it  was. 

Each  phase  of  the  regional  school  of  Gothic  can  be  found 
in  Angers.  In  the  tower  of  St.  Aubin,  a  vestige  of  an  ancient 
abbey  named  after  a  Vl-century  bishop  of  the  city,  is  a  ribbed 
cupola,  typical  of  the  incubating  period  of  the  school.1  It 
is  more  a  cupola  than  a  Gothic  vault.  The  stones  are  laid 
horizontally  in  concentric  rings,  and  the  ribs  are  more  deco- 
rative than  structural,  being  in  part  embedded  in  the  infilling. 
The  abbot  who  erected  it  ruled  from  1127  to  1154. 

The  First  Period  of  the  Gothic  of  Anjou  is  represented  at 
Angers  by  a  masterpiece  of  elemental  force — the  nave  of  the 
cathedral.  Three  huge  so-called  domical  vaults,  truly  Gothic 
in  construction,  span  the  sixty-foot  unaisled  nave  of  St. 
Maurice.  The  stones  are  laid  parallel  with  the  groin  line 
of  each  triangular  panel  between  the  intersecting  ribs.  Those 
diagonals  are  needlessly  heavy,  for  the  builders  were  still 
experimenting.  The  crown  of  each  vault  section  is  ten  feet 
higher  than  the  framing  arches — wall  arch  and  transverse 
arch.  The  exceptional  span  of  Angers'  three  massive  vaults 
is  due  to  a  reconstruction  of  the  nave  undertaken  in  the  XII 
century,  at  which  time  the  side  aisles  of  the  Romanesque 
cathedral  were  eliminated  and  the  entire  width  of  the  edifice 
thrown  into  an  unobstructed  hall. 

Mr.  John  Bilson,  the  eminent  English  archaeologist,  belittles 
the  influence  of  the  cupola  church  in  Angevin  Gothic,  the 
shape  of  whose  vaults  he  attributes  to  a  structural  cause. 
He  thinks  that  the  extreme  width  of  Angers'  nave  made  it 
essential  to  raise  the  keystone  above  the  crowns  of  transverse 
and  wall  arches  in  order  to  prevent  its  settling.  The  diagonals 
were  made  more  obtuse  than  the  equilateral  framing  arches 

1  Ch.  H.  Besnard,  "La  coupole  nervee  de  la  Tour  St.  Aubin  d'Angers,"  In  Congres 
Archeologique,  1910,  vol.  2,  p.  196;   L.  de  Farcy,  "Tour  St.  Aubin,"  in  Bulletin  Mon- 
umental, 1906,  p.  558. 
20  303 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

lest  they  might  tower  too  high.  Given  the  form  adopted 
for  the  arches,  the  bombe  vault  web  resulted  inevitably.  Arch 
curves  determine  the  forms  of  a  vault.  None  the  less  is  M. 
Berthele's  account  of  the  Plantagenet  school  sound  both 
ethnically  and  aesthetically.  The  Angevin  architect  chose 
to  persist  in  the  use  of  bombe  vaults  over  narrow  spans  where 
there  was  no  structural  need  to  raise  the  keystone. 

A  succession  of  cathedrals  had  stood  on  the  site  of  Angers' 
actual  church.  To  that  of  the  IV  century,  St.  Martin,  Gaul's 
apostle,  presented  relics  of  St.  Maurice  and  his  legion  of 
Theban  soldiers.  A  Merovingian  cathedral  mentioned  by 
Gregory  of  Tours  was  succeeded  by  a  Carolingian  basilica, 
and  after  the  year  1000  the  chief  church  of  Angers  was  rebuilt 
several  times  as  Romanesque.  A  dedication  occurred  in 
1030.  In  1032  the  cathedral  was  wiped  out  by  a  fire  caused 
by  that  remarkable  personage,  Fulk  Nerra,  the  Black  Falcon, 
who  raised  Anjou  from  an  insignificant  under-fief  to  be  one 
of  the  chief  powers  in  France.1  To  atone  for  his  feudal 
excesses,  Fulk  built  many  shrines  and  made  many  pilgrim- 
ages; in  Palestine,  with  the  same  melodramatic  instinct  for  the 
picturesque  which  his  descendant,  Coeur-de-Lion,  was  to 
display,  he  walked  barefooted  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem, 


1  Beginning  with  a  Breton  woodsman,  five  counts  of  Anjou  ruled  before  Fulk  III 
the  Black  (989-1040).  He  held  Vendome,  Amboise,  and  Loches,  where  he  founded 
Beaulieu  Abbey,  and  he  won  Chinon,  and  Saumur,  where  he  established  St.  Florent- 
les-Saumur.  His  grandfather,  Fulk  II  the  Good,  a  canon  in  St.  Martin's  at  Tours, 
and  a  poet,  had  said,  "Rex  illiteratus  est  asinus  coronatus,"  which  Henry  I  of  England 
was  fond  of  repeating.  The  son  of  Fulk  Nerra  was  Geoffrey  Martel  (d.  1060),  who 
won  Tours  and  Le  Mans,  but  later  lost  the  overlordship  of  the  latter  to  William  the 
Conqueror.  He  founded  the  Trinite  at  Vendome.  Geoffrey  and  Fulk,  his  two 
nephews,  succeeded  in  turn,  but  Geoffrey  was  kept  imprisoned  in  Chinon  for  almost 
thirty  years  by  his  unnatural  brother  Fulk  Rechin,  or  the  Quarreler,  who  had  all 
the  greed,  subtlety,  and  turbulance  of  his  line,  without  its  genius  for  statesmanship. 
He  is  counted  as  the  first  historian  of  the  Middle  Ages.  (See  Hist,  litter,  de  la  France 
(Paris,  1750),  vol.  9,  p.  391.)  Fulk  Rechin's  son  by  the  beautiful  Bertrada  de  Mont- 
fort  (who  deserted  him  for  the  king  of  France)  was  Fulk  V,  who  wedded  the  heiress  of 
Maine.  When  later  Fulk  V  won  a  second  heiress'in  the  East,  he  left  Anjou  and  Maine 
to  his  son  Geoffrey  the  Handsome,  and  reigned  as  king  of  Jerusalem  (d.  1143).  Geoffrey 
(d.  1151),  nicknamed  Plantagenet,  married  to  the  heiress  of  Normandy  and  England, 
always  preferred  Le  Mans  to  Angers.  His  son  became  Henry  II  of  England  and  a 
leader  in  Europe  because  of  his  territorial  possessions  on  the  Continent  and  his  ability 
As  a  statesman. 

304 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

flagellated  by  his  own  servitors,  as  he  lamented,  "Lord  be 
merciful  to  a  perjured,  unfaithful  Christian  wandering  far 
from  his  native  land." 

All  over  Anjou,  and  in  Touraine,  Fulk  III  put  up  abbey 
churches  and  castles;  "the  great  builder,"  he  was  called. 
One  day,  from  his  castle  on  the  rock  of  Angers,  his  falcon 
eyes  saw  a  dove  fluttering  over  a  certain  spot  beyond  the 
river,  and  there  he  founded  the  abbey  of  St.  Nicholas  in 
1020,  and  his  wife  at  that  period  (he  had  a  succession  of  wives, 
one  of  whom  he  is  said  to  have  killed)  founded  a  nunnery 
close  by  to  which  was  once  attached  the  church  of  the  Trinite. 
In  the  XVI  century  St.  Nicholas  was  called  Ronceray,  be- 
cause a  bramble-rose  insisted  on  pushing  its  way  up  through 
the  choir's  pavement.1  A  superman  was  Fulk  the  Black, 
highly  dowered  intellectually,  with  enormous  capacity  for 
organization,  but  of  shameless  wickedness,  calculating,  subtle, 
unscrupulous  as  to  the  means  by  which  he  pursued  his  designs, 
and  of  demoniac  temper — marked  traits  in  his  race  from 
generation  to  generation. 

Vestiges  of  the  cathedral  of  Angers  which  rose  after  the  fire 
of  1032,  and  in  which  Urban  II  preached  the  First  Crusade,  are 
in  the  actual  nave,  built  by  Bishop  Ulger2  (1125-49).  He  taught 
in  the  cathedral  school,  which  school  was  the  nucleus  of  the 
present  University  of  Angers.  His  successor,  Bishop  Normand 

1  The  abbatial  of  St.  Nicolas-du-Ronceray  is  in  a  lamentable  state;  its  nave  serves 
as  a  hall  for  the  Arts  and  Crafts  school,  the  transept's  north  arm  is  a  laundry,  and 
its  south  arm  a  roofless  ruin.     The  dome  at  its  crossing  is  without  distinct  pedestal. 
The  nuns  of  this  house  erected  at  the  side  of  their  own  sanctuary,  the  Trinite  church 
for  parish  use.     The  present  admirable  Trinite  was  built  after  a  fire  in  1062.     Its 
chevet  and  transept  are  the  oldest  parts,  and  then  rose  the  nave,  covered  with  First- 
Period  Angevin  vaults  (c.  1170).     Chapel-like  niches  are  lost  in  the  thickness  of  the 
walls. 

Angers'  abbatial  of  St.  Martin  contains  Gallo-Roman,  Merovingian,  and  Carolingian 
vestiges,  and  parts  of  the  XI,  XII,  and  XV  centuries.  Fulk  Nerra  rebuilt  it  on  return- 
ing from  one  of  his  pilgrimages.  Over  its  transept-crossing  is  a  dome  modeled  on  the 
one  at  Fontevrault,  without  separate  pedestal.  The  church  possesses  one  of  the 
earliest  eight-branch  Gothic  vaults  extant;  King  Rene  added  the  Flamboyant  parts. 
Chanoine  Pinier  at  his  own  expense  is  restoring  the  choir  and  transept. 

Congres  Archeologique,  1910,  vol.  1,  p.  211,  "St.  Martin,"  Chanoine  Pinier;  and 
vol.  2,  p.  12,  "St.  Nicolas-du-Ronceray,"  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis. 

2  Bishop  Ulger  carried  forward,  too,  the  episcopal  palace  which  stood  on  V-century 
walls  over  the  Roman  citadel  and  is  connected  with  the  cathedral's  transept.     Its 

305 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

de  Doue  (1149-53),  at  his  own  expense,  substituted  for  the 
timber  roof  of  the  new  nave  its  massive  Angevin  vaults. 
"When  we  recall  that  only  fifteen  years  earlier  Abbot  Suger, 
who  started  Gothic  architecture  on  its  triumphal  career,  was 
building  the  heavy  diagonals  to  be  seen  in  the  ante-church 
at  St.  Denis,  we  can  understand  what  pioneers  were  the 
builders  of  southwest  France  in  the  use  of  the  cardinal  organ 
of  the  new  system. 

Angers  Cathedral  continued  building  during  the  final 
years  of  the  XII  century,  under  Bishop  Raoul  de  Beaumont 
(1177-97),  who  erected  the  southern  arm  of  the  transept 
and  added  a  short  choir;  the  city  walls  at  that  period  pre- 
vented the  farther  extension  of  the  apse.  Along  the  west 
facade,  the  same  prelate  built  a  spacious  porch,  twenty-five 
feet  deep,  which  stood  till  1806,  when,  in  spite  of  episcopal 
protest,  the  civic  authorities  tore  it  down  rather  than  trouble 
to  repair  it.  Sorely  does  the  western  entrance  need  that 
softening  portico.  Angers'  portal  images  are  of  the  same 
archaic  column-statue  type  as  those  at  Chartres'  western  doors, 
and  here,  too,  in  the  tympanum  is  a  Byzantine  Christ  in  an 
elliptical  aureole,  surrounded  by  the  symbols  of  the  evangelists. 
Bishop  Raoul  de  Beaumont  came  of  one  of  the  illustrious 
races  of  crusaders,  statesmen,  and  prelates,  the  ancienne 
chevalerie  in  which  France  was  so  prolific  for  centuries.  A 
XIH-century  Beaumont,  marshal  of  France,  stood  by  Join- 
ville  in  voting  against  the  knight's  return  to  Europe  until  they 
had  redeemed  their  servitors  from  captivity;  a  XlV-century 
Beaumont  was  instrumental  in  giving  Dauphiny  to  France; 
a  Beaumont  in  the  XVIII  century  was  the  archbishop  of 
Paris,  who  warned  the  nation  that  if  it  de-Christianized  itself 
it  would  be  denationalized.  Bishop  Raoul's  nephew,  Guillaume 
de  Beaumont,  became  bishop  of  Angers,  and  in  1236  donated 
land  from  his  garden  for  the  erection  of  the  northern  arm 

ancient  facade  is  the  finest  civic  monument  in  Angers  (1101-49).  The  ground  floor 
was  used  as  a  stable;  over  it  rose  Bishop  Ulger's  synodal  hall,  and  under  the  rafters 
was  made  a  library  in  the  XV  century.  Angers  is  exceptionally  rich  in  late-Gothic 
and  Renaissance  mansions.  G.  d'Espinay,  Angers  et  I'Anjou  (Angers,  1903);  ibid., 
Notices  archeol.,  Les  monuments  d' Angers,  Saumur  et  ses  environs  (Angers,  1875),  2  vols. 

306 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

of  the  transept.  Eight-branch  Plantagenet  vault  sections 
cover  transept  and  choir. 

The  choir  of  Angers  Cathedral  was  extended  after  1274, 
when  permission  was  obtained  from  St.  Louis'  brother,  Charles 
d'Anjou,  to  demolish  part  of  the  city  ramparts.  Heavy 
buttresses  mark  the  junction  of  the  old  part  and  the  new. 
By  the  extension  of  the  eastern  limb  the  church  became  a 
bold  Latin  cross.  Secluded  nooks  in  dim  religious  corners 
are  not  to  be  found  in  these  unaisled  churches  of  southwestern 
France.  In  them  is  no  curving  procession  path,  no  picturesque 
perspective  effects.  Though  they  possess  their  own  quiet 
nobility,  seldom  does  their  grave  reverence  rise  to  sublimity. 
The  exterior  of  Angers  Cathedral  was  made  equally  simple, 
without  radiating  apse  chapels  or  flying  buttresses. 

The  cathedral's  nave  boasts  some  windows  which  were 
donated  before  1180  by  a  generous  canon.  Borders  of  the 
St.  Denis  glass  were  repeated  in  them.  The  third  window 
(north),  which  has  an  inimitable  deep  blue  background  and  a 
wide  border,  relates  St.  Catherine's  life;  the  fourth  portrays, 
the  Burial  of  the  Virgin;  and  the  fifth  is  devoted  to  St.  Vincent. 
Probably  local  workers  allied  with  the  St.  Denis  school  made 
these  lights.  In  the  nave's  southern  wall  is  a  good  Renaissance 
lancet,  transferred  here  from  a  ruined  chateau.  When  the 
choir  was  completed,  its  windows  were  filled  with  glass  of  the 
Paris  school  a  century  later  than  the  nave's  windows.  The 
transept  roses  are  Flamboyant  Gothic. 

Angers  Cathedral  tops  a  high  hill,  so  that  its  towers  are 
landmarks,  visible  for  thirty  miles  around.  Its  west  facade 
has  been  so  reconstructed  that  it  now  presents  the  ungainly 
proportions  of  the  church  fronts  in  Hanover  and  Brunswick. 
After  a  fire,  in  1516,  when  the  towers  were  renewed,  stone  spires 
were  added  by  the  well-known  Flamboyant  Gothic  master, 
Rouland  Le  Roux,  who  elaborated  the  frontispiece  of  Rouen 
Cathedral.  Then,  in  1533,  a  third  tower  was  built  between  the 
original  two.  One  of  its  walls  rested  on  the  west  fagade,  but 
the  other  three  have  mere  arches  for  foundations,  so  that  the 
tower  hangs  in  space,  as  it  were,  the  kind  of  feat  applauded 

307 


by  the  tourist  guide,  but  which  the  true  lover  of  structural 
sincerity  can  dispense  with.  Jean  de  1'Espine,  a  local  master  of 
whom  Angers  is  proud,  designed  the  curious  central  tower,  and 
two  sculptors  who  had  worked  on  groups  at  Solesmes  made  the 
facades  eight  warrior  images  which  have  been  restored. 

Scarcely  was  Angers  Cathedral  newly  dressed  when  came 
the  tragic  year  1562,  to  wreck  the  gathered  treasures  of 
generations.  The  Huguenots  broke  into  the  transept  from 
the  bishop's  garden — and  ever  since  that  door  has  been  walled 
up  in  disgrace.  For  a  fortnight  they  intrenched  themselves 
in  the  church,  looting  its  treasures,  destroying  tombs  and 
images.  More  than  a  hundred  splendid  tombs  lined  the 
walls  of  the  church.  The  neo-classic  canons  of  the  XVII 
and  XVIII  centuries  lost  so  entirely  the  comprehension  of 
the  national  art  that  they  sent  priceless  bronze  tombs  to  the 
smelting  pot,  even  that  of  Bishop  Raoul  de  Beaumont,  the 
builder.  A  silver-gilt  altar  given  by  Bishop  Normand  de 
Doue  who  spanned  the  nave  with  its  vaults  of  magnificent 
proportions,  was  sold,  as  was  another  altar,  the  gift  of  Bishop 
Guillaume  de  Beaumont,  and  with  the  proceeds  was  erected 
the  pseudo-classic  baldaquin  over  the  high  altar.  They  did 
away  with  the  lower  panels  of  the  precious  Xll-century 
windows  in  order  that  a  new  metal  balustrade  might  show  to 
better  effect.  In  a  final  attack  of  bon  gout,  those  worthy 
canons  proceeded  to  whitewash  the  entire  inside  of  the  cathe- 
dral, including  the  tombs  and  statues.  The  Revolution 
broke  up  the  elaborate  funereal  monument  of  good  King 
Rene,  on  which  several  generations  had  worked;  Jacques 
Morel,  who  sculptured  the  Souvigny  sarcophagus,  was  putting 
final  touches  to  it  when  he  died  in  Angers  in  1453.  For  years 
after  1793  its  chiseled  stones  were  used  by  the  city's  masons 
to  adorn  chimney  pieces  in  civilians'  houses. 

Anjou,  after  returning  to  the  French  crown  in  the  XIV 
century,  was  again  given  as  an  appanage  to  a  king's  son,  to 
Louis,1  son  of  Jean  le  Bon,  and  brother  of  those  art-loving 

1  The  first  line  of  Anjou's  counts  came  to  an  end  when  John  Lackland  did  away 
with  his  nephew,  Arthur  of  Brittany.  The  region  of  the  Loire  became  then  most 

308 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE. 

Valois  princes,  Charles  V  and  the  Dukes  of  Berry  and  Bur- 
gundy. Louis  I  d'Anjou  had  made  for  his  palace  chapel  at 
Angers,  in  1378,  some  tapestries  telling  the  Apocalypse  won- 
ders. His  grandson,  good  King  Rene,  presented  them  to  the 
cathedral,  where  first  they  were  hung  for  a  visit  of  Louis  XI. 
In  the  days  when  the  cathedral  walls  were  being  whitewashed 
those  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  textile  art,  made  by 
Parisian  weavers  after  Flemish  models — and  the  oldest- 
dated  tapestries  extant — were  put  up  for  sale,  but,  not  finding 
a  purchaser,  were  used  to  cover  greenhouses  and  to  line  stables. 
When  in  1843  the  bishop  of  Angers  was  able  to  rescue  a  hun- 
dred yards  of  the  Apocalypse,  he  was  mocked  for  his  taste 
for  rubbish.  Three  hundred  francs  was  all  he  paid  for  over 
sixty  sections  of  the  embroidery,  and  when  one  section  was 
recently  loaned  to  the  exhibition  at  Ghent  it  was  insured  for 
forty  thousand  dollars. 

Louis  II  d'Anjou  married  Yolande  of  Aragon,  a  statesman- 
like woman  of  sound  character  and  good  taste,  and  together 
they  built  the  pavilion  that  stands  within  the  fortress  inclo- 
sure,  and  the  chapel  adjoining  it  (finished  in  1411),  whose 
bombe  vaults  are  carried  on  ribs  of  prismatic  profile.  Yolande's 
two  sons,  Charles  and  Rene,  ruled  Anjou.  The  claims  of 
Louis  XI  to  the  duchy  caused  his  uncle,  King  Rene,  to  spend 
his  latter  years  in  Provence,  but  never  did  he  forget  his  birth- 
place, and  to  Angers  Cathedral  he  sent  the  green  marble 
Roman  bath  mounted  on  lions,  now  used  as  a  holy-water 
font.  Rene  wrote  poems  and  plays,  composed  church  music, 
painted  and  illuminated,  and  throughout  a  long  life  of  mis- 
fortunes proved  himself  a  loyal  knight  and  Christian  phi- 
losopher. Shortly  after  his  death  Anjou  returned  to  the 
French  crown. 

willingly  a  part  of  Phillipe-Auguste's  royal  domain.  Anjou  was  given  as  an  appanage 
to  St.  Louis'  brother  Charles  d'Anjou,  whose  first  wife  brought  him  Provence,  and 
who  by  invitation  and  conquest  became  king  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  His  son,  Charles 
II,  built  the  church  of  St.  Maximin  in  Provence.  He  left  only  one  daughter,  who 
married  the  Count  of  Valois,  like  herself  of  St.  Louis'  direct  line.  The  son  of  that 
union  mounted  the  French  throne  as  Philip  VI.  It  was  his  son,  Jean  le  Bon,  who 
again  detached  Anjou  from  the  French  crown  for  his  son  Louis,  who  began  the  short- 
lived third  line  of  Angevin  princes. 

309 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  ramparts  within  whose  somber  walls  was  the  palace1 
of  the  counts  and  dukes  of  Anjou's  three  lines  of  rulers,  was 
constructed  by  St.  Louis,  from  1228  to  1238,  though  begun 
by  his  grandfather,  Philippe-Auguste.  For  the  precincts 
of  his  huge  fortress  St.  Louis  was  compelled  to  take  lands 
from  the  congregation  of  Toussaint.  With  the  compensa- 
tion money  the  religious  rebuilt  their  church  and  roofed  it 
with  a  Plantagenet  Gothic  vault  of  the  elaborate  final  phase 
of  the  regional  school.  The  interlocking  ribs  had  three  lines 
of  keystones,  like  the  vault  of  Air  vault  (Deux-Sevres). 

Toussaint  had  been  founded  in  the  XI  century  by  a  pious 
canon,  as  a  refuge  for  the  poor  and  stricken,  and  the  duty  of 
its  clergy  was  to  visit  the  sick  and  bury  the  dead.  That 
every  forlorn  soul  might  feel  under  the  protection  of  his  own 
chosen  patron  saint,  the  name  All  Saints  was  chosen.  The 
Revolution  suppressed  the  asylum  of  charity  and  in  1815 
Prussian  cavalry  were  stabled  in  the  neglected  church.  The 
roofless  nave  now  serves  as  an  archaeological  museum.  The 
vaults  of  the  choir  were  made  early  in  the  XVIII  century  on 
the  same  model  as  the  nave's  XIH-century  Plantagenet  roof. 

The  fortress  built  by  St.  Louis  on  the  Toussaint  property 
was  saved  from  demolition  by  the  seneschal  of  Anjou,  who, 
when  Henry  Ill's  orders  came  to  destroy  the  ramparts,  had 
the  tact  to  proceed  in  so  leisurely  a  fashion  that  after  seven 
years,  when  he  was  able  to  get  the  order  revoked,  little  more 
was  destroyed  than  the  upper  stories  of  the  towers.  A  kneeling 
image  of  that  truly  patriotic  seneschal,  Donadieu  de  Puycharic, 
is  now  in  the  museum  installed  in  the  XH-century  hospital 
of  St.  Jean. 

That  hospital  of  St.  Jean  was  begun  by  another  enlightened 
seneschal  of  Anjou,  but  before  long  (c.  1180)  Henry  Plantagenet 

1  That  a  portion  of  Angers'  palace  walls  dates  from  Gallo-Roman  times  is  indicated 
by  the  courses  of  brick  in  the  small  stones.  When  such  brick  courses  alternate  with 
big  material,  the  work  was  done  after  1000.  Of  the  red  flint-stone  castle  built  by 
Fulk  Nerra  only  fragments  remain.  A  fire  in  1132  and  later  disasters  wiped  out 
the  counts'  residence,  to  which  Henry  Plantagenet  had  added.  L.  de  Farcy,  "La 
chapelle  du  chateau  d' Angers,"  in  Revue  de  Vart  chretien,  1902;  Henri  Rene,  Le  chateau 
d' Angers  (Angers,  1908);  H.  Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artistique  et  monumental,  vol. 
2,  "Angers,"  H.  Jouin. 

310 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

undertook  to  finish  and  endow  it,  some  say  to  expiate  the 
assassination  of  St.  Thomas  Becket.  The  oldest  parts  of  St. 
John's  establishment  are  the  granary  and  the  north  and  east 
corridors  of  the  cloister;  the  latter's  south  gallery  was  built 
(1538)  by  Angers'  local  architect,  Jean  de  1'Espine.  The 
hospital  hall  was  undertaken  between  1174  and  1188,  and 
at  first  was  roofed  in  wood. 

Shortly  after  1200  the  Knights  of  St.  John  Hospitalier  of 
Jerusalem  were  put  in  charge  of  Angers  hospital,  and  governed 
it  till  1232.  During  their  occupancy  the  hall  was  covered  by 
its  twenty-four  small  cuplike  sections,  each  of  which  is  carried 
on  four  slender  ribs.  The  effect  of  the  three  aisles  of  little 
bombe  vaults  is  alluring.  The  slender  torus  usually  dis- 
tinguished the  eight-branch  Plantagenet  type,  and  its  use 
here  for  simple  diagonals  is  an  exception.  The  chapel  attached 
to  the  hospital  was  also  built  in  two  campaigns;  over  part 
of  it  was  employed  the  eight-rib  vault,  while  portions  were 
roofed  in  the  more  complicated  Plantagenet  way. 

The  singular  grace  of  St.  Jean's  hospital  hall,  with  its 
slender  columns  and  multiple  little  coupoliformes  vaults,  in- 
spired the  small  choir  of  St.  Serge,  which  many  hold  to  be 
the  most  exquisite  example  of  Plantagenet  Gothic.  The 
church1  once  formed  part  of  an  ancient  Benedictine  monastery 
named  for  the  pope,  who  had  instituted  the  triple  chanting 
of  the  Agnus  Dei  in  the  Mass.  Hitherto  the  Angevin  masonry 
roof  had  been  applied  to  churches  without  side  aisles.  The 
ground  plan  of  the  cupola  church  had  been  adhered  to.  The 
Plantagenet  architects  now  began  to  copy  another  regional 
model,  Poitou's  Romanesque  church,  whose  side  aisles  were 
almost  as  high  as  the  principal  span  they  buttressed;  hence 
the  light  came  entirely  from  the  lateral  corridors.  One  roof 
covered  all. 


1  The  nave  of  St.  Serge  is  a  mediocre  XV-century  structure.  In  its  transept  walls 
are  vestiges  of  earlier  churches;  the  cordons  of  brick  in  the  stonework  date  from 
Carolingian  times.  Congres  Archeologique,  1871  and  1910;  V.  Godard-Faultier, 
"Le  choeur  de  St.  Serge  a  Angers,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  18G6,  vol.  32;  J.  Denais, 
"Ilistoire  et  description  de  1'eglise  St.  Serge  a  Angers,"  in  L'inventaire  des  richesses 
d'art  de  la  France,  vol.  4,  p.  20,  Province,  monuments  religieux  (Paris,  Plon). 

311 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Poitiers  Cathedral  was  among  the  first  to  use  Poitou's  pre- 
(totliic  plan  in  Plantagenet  architecture.  The  choir  of  St. 
Serge  developed  the  same  idea  in  its  own  small,  gracious 
way.  No  doubt  the  harmonious  effect  obtained  in  St.  John's 
hospital  by  the  three  aisles  of  bombe  vaults  inspired  the 
architect  of  St.  Serge,  who  built  his  choir,  from  1220  to  1225. 
Six  fragile-looking  columns,  thirty  feet  in  height,  support 
with  ease  the  twelve  little  Plantagenet  vaults,  which  are  of 
the  eight-branch  type,  with  elaborate  keystones,  and  minute 
figures  at  the  intersection  of  the  ribs  and  the  framing  arches. 
At  the  choir's  square  eastern  end  the  ribs  ramify  considerably 
around  the  windows.  It  is  impossible  to  say  wherein  lies  the 
witchery  of  this  small  monument — all  elegance  and  lightness. 
Some  call  it  Saracenic  because  of  its  exotic  loveliness.  Its 
science  of  construction  is  perfect.  Certainly  some  individual 
genius  designed  it. 

SAUMUR  i 

L'ancienne  Grand'  Rue  de  Saumur  ...  la  rue  montueuse  qui  mene  au 
chateau,  obscure  en  quelques  endroits,  remarquable  par  la  sonorite  de  son 
petit  pav6  caillouteux,  toujours  propre  et  sec  ...  la  paix  de  ses  maisons 
inpen£tral>les,  noirs,  et  silencieuses — 1'histoire  de  France  est  la,  tout 
entidre. — BALZAC,  Eugenie  Grandet  (whose  scene  is  Saumur). 

Close  by  Angers  lies  Saumur  on  the  Loire,  "well-loved, 
well-set  city."  It  comprises,  with  its  environs,  another  center 
for  the  study  of  Plantagenet  Gothic.  The  town  is  topped 
by  its  castle,  now  in  main  part  of  the  XIV  century.  In  its 
former  great  hall,  built  by  Henry  Plantagenet,  took  place, 
in  1241,  that  celebrated  fete  called  the  Non-Pareille  which 
Joinville  has  described.  His  memory  of  it  was  so  fresh,  after 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1862  and  1910;   Prosper  Merimee,  Notes  d'un  voyage  dans 

I'Oucst  de  la  France  (Paris,  1836),  pp.  345-358;   G.  d'Espinay,  Notices  archeologiques. 

Les  monuments  d' Angers,  Saumur  et  ses  environs  (Angers,  1875),  2  vols.;  Celestin  Port, 

"Les  stalles  et  les  tapisseries  de  St.  Pierre  de  Saumur,"  in  Revue  des  Societes  savantes, 

108,  p.  278;   ibid.,  Dictionnaire  historique,  geographique,  et  biographique  de  Maine-et- 

Isiirc  (Paris  and  Angers,  1874-78),  3  vols.;   V.  Godard-Faultrier,  Monuments  antiques 

jon,  arrondinncmenl  de  Saumur  (Angers,  1863);    Jules  Juiffrey,  "  Tapisserie  du 

X\    sK-c-le  a  I'eglise  Notre  Dame-de-Nantilly  a  Saumur,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  ancien  et 

r,  1897,  vol.  4,  p.  75;   Eugene  Miintz,  Jules  Juiffrey,  Alex.  Pinchart,  Histoire 

gcncralc  dc  la  tapisscrie  (Paris,  1879-84),  3  vols. 

312 


The  Plantagenet  Gothic  Choir  of  St.  Serge  at  Angers 
(1220-1225) 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

sixty  years,  that  he  could  tell  the  color  of  Louis  IX's  robe 
and  surcoat;  perhaps  it  was  the  first  time  that  Joinville  saw 
the  saint-king  who  was  to  become  his  closest  friend.  He  was 
not  yet  twenty  when  he  accompanied  his  suzerain  of  Cham- 
pagne, Thibaut  IV,  the  maker  of  songs,  to  the  feast  held  in 
Saumur  chateau  for  the  knighting  of  Alphonse  of  Poitiers, 
the  king's  brother. 

The  bodyguard  of  St.  Louis  were  a  Bourbon,  a  Coucy,  and 
a  Beaujeu,  behind  whom  stood  ranged  a  host  of  barons  and 
knights  in  silk  and  cloth  of  gold.  The  future  king  of  Portugal 
and  a  prince  from  Thuringia,  the  son  of  St.  Elizabeth  of 
Hungary,  waited  on  the  table  of  the  queen-mother,  Blanche 
of  Castile,  who,  when  she  heard  the  name  of  the  princeling 
from  beyond  the  Rhine,  called  him  to  her  side  and  placed  a 
kiss  upon  his  brow,  since  there,  she  said,  his  saintly  mother 
must  often  have  blessed  him.  Jealous  passions,  too,  burned 
behind  the  glitter  and  show.  Isabelle  of  Angouleme,  the 
widow  of  John  Lackland,  married  now  to  a  Lusignan  who  had 
to  render  homage  to  his  new  suzerain,  cried  out,  imperiously, 
"Am  I  a  waiting  woman  that  I  should  stand  while  they  sit 
at  ease?"  and  she  proceeded  to  stir  up  war. 

Below  the  castle  of  Saumur  lies  the  XH-century  unaisled 
church  of  St.  Pierre,  whose  masonry  roof  belongs  to  different 
phases  of  Angevin  Gothic.  Over  the  transept-crossing  is  a 
ribbed  cupola  without  distinct  pedestal,  inspired  evidently 
by  the  small  unribbed  cupola  of  Fontevrault's  crossing.  The 
stones  are  laid  in  horizontal  concentric  courses  like  a  true 
dome.  Though  archaic  in  structure,  St.  Pierre's  croisee  is  of 
skilled  execution.  It  belongs  to  the  last  third  of  the  XII  century. 

Over  the  choir  and  transept  are  the  heavy  diagonals  of 
the  First  Period  of  the  Plantagenet  development,  and  the 
nave's  vault  sections  are  carried  on  the  eight  branches  of  the 
Second  Period.  Powerful  transverse  arches  separate  the  wide, 
square  bays,  and  against  the  inclosure  walls  are  other  strong 
arches  beneath  the  windows.  The  walls  of  St.  Pierre's  choir 
are  not  parallel,  but  draw  closer  together  at  the  eastern  end, 
for  undoubtedly  there  was  much  intentional  asymmetry  in 

313 


mediaeval  monuments.  The  Flamboyant  day  gave  to  St. 
Pierre  its  well-carved  choir  stalls  and  some  exquisitely  toned 
Flemish  tapestries  executed  by  local  weavers. 

Other  superb  tapestries  adorn  Notre  Dame-de-Nantilly,  a 
church  patronized  by  Louis  XI,  who  added  to  it  the  south 
aisle  and  a  Flamboyant  oratory.  The  body  of  the  edifice 
belongs  to  the  first  half  of  the  XII  century;  its  barrel  vault 
is  braced  by  slightly  pointed  transverse  arches.  At  the 
transept-crossing  is  a  ribbed  cupola,  without  distinct  pedestal, 
like  that  of  St.  Pierre.  Against  the  fourth  pier,  to  the  south, 
is  the  epitaph  which  good  King  Rene  himself  composed  and 
set  up  because  of  his  affection  for  his  old  nurse,  Dame  Tiphaine, 
for  whose  soul  he  begs  a  paternoster  of  all  who  pass  by. 
Against  the  fifth  pier  is  the  Limousin  enamel  crozier  of  the 
archbishop  of  Tyr,  keeper  of  the  seal  for  St.  Louis,  who  was 
buried  here  in  his  native  city  in  1266. 

Behind  the  Gothic  Town  Hall  is  the  now  unused  chapel  of 
St.  Jean,  a  small  example  of  the  Third  Period  of  Angevin 
architecture,  when  ribs  branched  considerably;  in  the  square 
chevet  they  ramify  to  the  number  of  twenty. 

A  mile  down  the  river  lies  what  is  left  of  St.  Florent-les- 
Saumur  l  re-established  by  Fulk  Nerra  when  he  conquered 

1  From  Saumur,  eight  miles  down  the  Loire,  can  be  visited  the  magnificent  Roman- 
esque church  at  Cunault,  XI  and  XII  centuries.  It  has  noticeable  capitals,  mural 
paintings,  and  Plantagenet  vaults  with  sculptured  keystones  and  figurines.  Two 
miles  below  it  lies  Gennes,  whose  church  has  Angevin  vaults  of  the  First  Period.  To 
be  reached,  via  Doue-la-Fontaine,  are  both  Puy-Notre-Dame  and  Asnieres,  the  latter 
called  "the  most  beautiful  ruin  in  Anjou."  Its  square-ended  XHI-century  choir 
resembles  St.  Serge's.  Slender  pillars  divide  that  wide  chevet  into  three  aisles  of  equal 
height,  composing  one  of  the  most  graceful  specimens  of  the  school's  Third  Period. 
One  arm  of  the  transept  has  heavy  diagonals  of  the  first  phase,  and  over  the  other 
are  the  eight-branch  type.  The  Huguenots  wrecked  Asnieres  in  1569.  The  present 
nave  is  a  restitution.  A  society  of  artists  saved  the  choir  and  transept  from  demolition. 

The  abbatial  of  Puy-Notre-Dame  is  very  beautiful.  Heavy  diagonals  of  the  First 
Period  cover  the  transept's  south  arm;  eight-branch  vaults  cover  the  nave  and  the 
transept's  north  limb;  over  the  choir,  which  resembles  St.  Jean's  chevet  at  Saumur, 
is  a  much-ramified  Plantagenet  vault.  The  lofty  side  aisles  and  clustered  piers  make 
this  interior  one  of  the  best  of  XHI-century  Angevin  works  extant.  At  St.  Germain- 
sur-Vienne  (Indre-et-Loire),  two  miles  from  Candes,  the  choir  has  the  complicated 
multiple-ribbed  vault  of  the  Third  Period,  with  three  lines  of  keystones. 

Congres  Archeologique,  1910,  p.  128,  Cunault  and  Gennes;  p.  65.  Puy-Notre-Dame 
and  Asnieres;  E.  deLoriere,  "Asnieres-sur-Vegre,"  in  Revue  hist,  et  archeol.  du  Maine, 
1904,  p.  95. 

314 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

Saumur  in  1026.  Its  narthex,  now  the  chapel  of  a  nuns* 
community,  shows  one  of  the  earliest  uses  of  the  Plantagenet 
vault  of  eight  branches  (1170-1200).  At  St.  Florent  was 
living  the  daughter  of  the  exiled  poet-duke  of  Orleans,  with 
her  young  husband,  the  Duke  of  Alengon,  when  one  day  in 
1429  word  came  that  at  Chinon,  near  by,  where  Charles  VII 
was  staying,  had  arrived  an  inspired  maid,  and  young 
d'Alengon,  soon  to  be  Jeanne  d'Arc's  lieutenant — her  gentil 
due — galloped  along  the  banks  of  the  Loire  to  see  the  wonder. 
So  delighted  was  he  with  Jeanne's  management  of  spear  and 
horse  that  he  presented  her  with  a  palfrey,  and  she  came  to 
St.  Florent-les-Saumur  for  a  four  days'  visit  to  his  duchess, 
promising  l  that  anxious  young  wife  that  she  would  bring 
back  her  husband  safe  and  sound. 

Fontevrault's  abbatial,  where  culminated  the  art  of  the 
cupola  church,  is  the  chief  excursion  to  be  made  from  Saumur. 
It  can  be  reached  by  a  ten-mile  trolley  ride.  Only  three 
miles  from  Fontevrault,  and  a  pleasant  cross-country  walk 
from  it,  is  the  beautiful  Plantagenet  Gothic  church  of  St. 
Martin,  at  Candes,2  crowned  with  battlements,  on  the  high- 
land above  the  confluence  of  the  Vienne  and  the  Loire.  In 


1  At  the  battle  of  Jargeau,  Jeanne  reminded  the  duke  of  her  promise.     D'Alenc.on 
himself  has  related  the  episode:   "  Je  luifis  observer  que  cetait  alter  bien  vite  en  besogne 
que  d'attaquer  si  promptement:  'Soyez  sans  crainte,'  me  dit-elle,  'Vheure  est  bonne  quand 
il  plait  a  Dieu,  il  faut  besoigner  quand  c'cst  sa  volonte:   agissez,  Dieu  agira!   Ah,  gentil 
due,'  me  dit-elle  quelques  instants  apres,  'aurais-tu  peur?     Ne  sait-tu  pas  que  j'ai  promis 
a  tafemme  de  te  ramener  sain  et  sauf?' "     Alas,  for  the  deterioration  of  character  brought 
about  in  those  troubled  years  of  foreign  invasion  and  misrule;    Jeanne's  gentil  due 
was  later  to  plot  with  the  English  and  to  be  impeached. 

At  Chinon  are  specimens  of  Plantagenet  Gothic  (Bulletin  Monumental,  1869).  In 
the  Loire-et-Cher  department  are  some  fourteen  churches  of  the  school.  The  other 
Plantagenet  monuments  usually  seen  by  the  traveler  before  his  arrival  in  Angou  are 
the  eight-branch  vaults  at  Vendome,  in  the  transept  of  the  Trinite;  the  vault  under 
the  northwest  tower  of  Tours  Cathedral;  and  in  Le  Mans,  the  cathedral  nave  and 
the  church  of  the  Couture.  At  Mouliherne  (Seine-et-Loire)  every  type  of  the  Plan- 
tagenet development  is  present. 

Congres  Archeologique,  1910,  vol.  1,  p.  130,  "St.  Florent-les-Saumur,"  Andre  Rhein; 
vol.  2,  "Les  voutes  de  1'eglise  de  Mouliherne,"  Andre  Rhein;  p.  247,  "Les  influences 
angevines  sur  les  eglises  gothiques  du  Blesois  et  du  Vendomois,"  F.  Leseur. 

2  Congres  Archeologique,   1910,  p.  33,  Andre  Rhein,  on  Candes;    Abbe  Bourasse, 
"Notice  historique  et  archeologique  sur  1'eglise  de  Candes,"  in  Memoires  de  la  Soc. 
archeol.  de  Touraine,  1845,  p.  141;    Suppligeon,  Notices  sur  la  ville  et  la  collcgiale  de 
Candes  (Tours,  1885). 

315 


the  ancient  abbey  here  St.  Martin  died  as  the  IV  century 
closed.  A  chapel  to  the  north  of  the  choir  marks  the  site 
of  his  cell,  and  its  window  recalls  the  pious  piracy  of  his  loyal 
parishioners  of  Tours,  who  claimed  his  body  for  burial,  but 
who,  knowing  that  Candes  would  not  give  it  up,  came  by 
night  and  stole  it  away;  and  quite  rightly  they  had  judged, 
for  when,  centuries  later,  the  Northmen  invasions  forced 
Tours  to  send  its  great  relic  for  safe-keeping  to  Auxerre,  it 
took  an  army  of  six  thousand  men  to  get  it  back. 

The  present  choir  of  St.  Martin's  at  Candes  was  built  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  XII  century  (c.  1180).  Fifty  years 
later  rose  the  nave,  justly  considered  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
examples  of  Plantagenet  Gothic  architecture,  its  model,  not 
the  unaisled  cupola-church,  but  the  Romanesque  church  of 
Poitou,  whose  side  aisles  are  so  high  that  their  lancets  are 
the  only  lighting  of  the  edifice.  St.  Martin's  hall-like  interior 
of  three  spacious  aisles  is  inundated  with  light.  The  well- 
proportioned  clustered  piers  rising  from  pavement  to  vault- 
springing  are  placed  considerably  out  of  alignment,  and  in 
a  number  of  other  arrangements  the  architect  here  followed 
his  personal  bent.  In  the  western  porch  the  ribs  of  several 
Plantagenet  vault  sections  fall  on  a  central  pillar. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  AT  POITIERS1 

Vexilla  Regis  prodeunt  Abroad  the  regal  banners  fly 

Fulget  Crucis  mysterium  And  bear  the  mystic  Cross  on  high, 

Qua  vita  mortem  pertulit  That  Cross  whereon  Life  suffered  Death 

Et  morte  vitam  protulit.  And  gave  us  Life  with  dying  breath. 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1843,  1884,  and  1903,  "Poitiers,"  Andre  Rhein;  H.  L. 
de  la  Mauviniere,  Poitiers  et  Angouleme  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris, 
H.  Laurens,  1908);  Abbe  Auber,  Histoire  de  la  cathedrale  de  Poitiers  (Poitiers,  1849), 
2  vols.;  ibid.,  Histoire  civile,  relig.  et  litteraire  du  Poitou  (Poitiers,  1856),  8  vols.;  J. 
Berthele,  Recherches  pour  servir  a  Vhistoire  des  arts  en  Poitou;  Alfred  Ilichard,  Histoire 
des  comtes  du  Poitou,  788-1204  (Paris,  Picard  et  fils,  1903),  2  vols.;  Dreux-Duradier, 
Histoire  litteraire  du  Poitou;  Alexis  Forel,  Voyage  au  pays  des  sculpteurs  romans 
(Paris  and  Geneva,  1913),  2  vols.;  Raynouard,  Ckoix  des  poesies  originates  des  trouba- 
dours (Paris,  Didot,  1816),  vol.  5,  "Richard  Cceur-de-Lion";  R.  P.  Largent,  St. 
Hilaire  de  Poitiers  (Collection,  Les  Saints),  (Paris,  Lecoffre);  J.  Robuchon,  Paysages 
et  monuments  du  Poitou  (Paris,  1890-1903),  folio;  (on  Poitiers,  Mgr.  Barbier  de 
Montault);  Benj.  Fillon,  Poitou  et  Vendee;  A.  J.  de  H.  Bushnell,  Storied  Windows 
(Xew  York,  Macmillan  Company,  1914);  Boissonnade,  Le  Poitou  (Collection,  Les 
regions  de  la  France),  (Paris,  Cerf,  1920). 

316 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC   ARCHITECTURE 

Impleta  sunt  quoe  concinit  That  which  the  prophet-king  of  old 

David  fideli  carmine,  Hath  in  mysterious  verse  foretold 

Dicendo  nationibus  Is  now  accomplished  whilst  we  see 

Regnavit  a  ligno  Deus.  God  ruling  nations  from  a  Tree. 

— FORTUNATUS,  bishop  of  Poitiers  (599-607). * 

The  noblest  Gothic  monument  due  to  Henry  Plantagenet 
and  Alienor  of  Aquitaine  is  the  cathedral  church  at  Poitiers, 
founded  by  them  in  1162  about  the  same  time  that,  in  Paris, 
Louis  VII  witnessed  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  for  a  new 
chief  church  in  his  capital.  Never  were  contemporary  edifices 
more  unlike  in  their  form  and  their  informing  spirit.  In 
Notre  Dame  of  Paris  breathes  the  struggle  of  human  existence 
and  that  Christian  resignation  voiced  by  the  XIH-century 
Franciscan  in  the  Dies  Irce.  St.  Peter's  Cathedral  at  Poitiers 
rings  with  Christian  joy,  with  the  triumphal  strains  of  the 
hymn  composed  by  its  Vl-century  bishop  for  the  arrival  from 
Constantinople  of  the  True  Cross  relic.  From  the  hour  that 
the  ancient  ecclesiastical  city  marched  forth  with  banners 
flying  to  meet  the  Cross,  Poitiers  has  held  it  to  be  a  tree  of 
royal  honor,  not  of  pathetic  agony.  Her  greatest  bishop, 
St.  Hilary,  was  western  Christendom's  champion  for  the 
Son's  divinity  when  the  Arian  heresy  attacked  it.  Clovis 
defeated  the  Arian  Visigoths  at  Poitiers  in  508;  Charles 
Martel  checked  the  Mohammedans  at  Poitiers  in  732. 

A  city's  spiritual  history  speaks  by  its  monuments.  In 
the  high  place  of  honor  in  Poitiers'  cathedral  of  St.  Peter, 
hangs  a  gleaming  canticle  of  translucent  mosaic,  a  window 
which  many  hold  to  be  the  finest  in  the  world.  It  celebrates 
God  ruling  nations  from  a  tree.  It  is  a  passion  and  a  triumph, 

1  The  Vexilla  regis  prodeunt  hymn  is  sung  on  Good  Friday  when  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment is  carried  from  the  Repository  to  the  main  altar,  and  as  a  vesper  hymn  from  the 
Saturday  before  Passion  Sunday  to  Maundy  Thursday.  It  has  also  been  incorporated 
in  the  Roman  Breviary  for  feasts  of  the  Holy  Cross.  There  have  been  a  host  of 
translations.  In  his  Medieval  Hymns  and  Sequences,  London,  1813,  Dr.  J.  M.  Neale 
thus  rendered  the  first  quatrain: 

"The  royal  banners  forward  go. 
The  cross  shines  forth  with  mystic  glow, 
Where  He  in  flesh,  our  flesh  Who  made, 
Our  sentence  bore,  our  ransom  paid." 
317 


an  agony  and  an  apotheosis.  Eight  centuries  divide  the 
inspiration  of  the  Crucifixion  window  from  St.  Hilary's  strug- 
gle with  Arianism,  six  centuries  from  the  canticle  of  Bishop 
Venantius  Fortunatus,  but  Hilary's  affirmation  and  the 
rejoicing  of  Fortunatus  live  in  it,  and  through  it  have  been 
passed  on  to  us. 

Poitiers  Cathedral  is  a  spacious  hall-church  illuminated  by 
large  lancets  that  seem  to  be  chanting  Alleluias,  yet  whose 
piety  is  plain  and  robust.  It  is  a  church  loyal  to  indigenous 
art  traditions,  yet  blending  those  sober  Romanesque  inherit- 
ances of  Poitou  with  the  delicate  grace  of  Plantagenet  Gothic. 
Its  loveliness  is  severe,  its  slenderness  is  sturdy.  St.  Peter's 
both  imposes  and  allures. 

Poitiers  was  the  cradle  of  Alienor  of  Aquitaine's  brilliant 
and  debonaire  line  of  troubadours,  crusaders,  and  church 
builders.  Charlemagne  gave  them  the  title  of  Duke  of 
Aquitaine  for  their  services  against  Islam.  The  first  warrior 
duke  died  a  hermit  at  St.  Guilhem-le-Desert,  which  became  a 
Midi  pilgrim  shrine  where,  in  the  Gothic  dawn,  appeared  a 
very  early  use  of  diagonals,  profiled  like  those  of  the  Ile-de- 
France.  A  duke  of  Aquitaine  founded  Cluny,  the  greatest 
building  energy  of  the  ages.  Another  of  the  dynasty  of  the 
Guillaumes  aided  Bishop  Fulbert  to  build  Chartres,  and,  when 
fire  wiped  out  Poitiers  Cathedral,  reconstructed  it  in  Roman- 
esque form.  Guillaume  VIII  and  Guillaume  IX  built  at 
Bordeaux  the  churches  of  Ste.  Croix,  St.  Seurin,  and  St.  Andre. 
In  Poitiers  they  raised  anew  Notre  Dame-la-Grande  and 
St.  Hilaire,  and  founded  Montierneuf,1  blessed  by  Urban  II 
in  1096.  Alienor's  grandfather,  Guillaume  IX,  the  first-known 
troubadour,  especially  favored  Fontevrault.  Her  father  was 

1  Montierneuf  was  founded  in  1078  by  Guillaume  VIII  (d.  1086).  Only  eight  of 
the  nave's  eleven  bays  remain.  The  chevet  was  rebuilt  in  the  XIV  century.  The 
abbey  was  sacked  in  1562.  St.  Porchaire's  tower  is  all  that  remains  of  an  Xl-century 
church,  a  contemporary  of  Notre  Dame-la-Grande  and  Montierneuf.  It  was  to  be 
destroyed  in  1843,  but  luckily  some  -visiting  archaeologists  saved  it.  From  St.  Por- 
chaire's belfry  rang  the  summonses  of  Poitiers  University.  De  Cherge,  "Memoire 
historique  sur  1'abbaye  de  Montierneuf  de  Poitiers,"  in  Mem.  de  la  Soc.  dcs  antiquaircs 
de  V Quest,  184-1 ;  Deux  etudiants  de  I'Universite  de  Poitiers,  Francis  Bacon  ct  Rene 
Descartes,  1867,  p.  65. 

318 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

that  Guillaume  X,  with  the  appetites  of  eight  men,  an  open 
boaster  of  his  crimes,  whom  it  took  St.  Bernard  to  beat  to 
his  knees  in  penitence,  after  which  he  passed  out  of  history 
in  the  odor  of  sanctity  as  pilgrim  to  Compostela. 

With  the  art  of  the  builder  Alienor's  own  links  were  multiple. 
When  Bishop  Geoffrey  de  Leves  took  charge  of  her  as  a  young 
bride  in  Bordeaux,  he  was  raising  at  Chartres  the  most  beauti- 
ful tower  in  the  world.  She  assisted  at  St.  Denis'  dedication 
and  knew  Abbot  Suger  well;  at  Vezelay  she  watched  the 
Burgundians  sculpting  a  portal  of  paradise.  Through  all 
her  crowded  life,  with  all  her  reckless  sins  upon  her,  Alienor 
was  loyal  to  her  own  region.  She  began  Poitiers  Cathedral 
in  the  same  decade  that  she  had  her  favorite  son  Richard 
the  Lion-hearted  installed  as  ruler  of  Aquitaine — another 
troubadour  duke — seating  him  in  the  abbot's  chair  at  St. 
Hilaire's,  according  to  ancient  custom.  She  blended  with 
her  own  Poitou's  Romanesque  what  was  choicest  in  the 
Gothic  art  of  her  Angevin  husband. 

Poitiers  Cathedral  was  the  prototype  of  monuments  such 
as  Candes  and  Puy-Notre-Dame,  in  whose  interiors  Alienor's 
own  "high  grace,  the  dower  of  queens,"  seems  incarnate.  An 
Angevin  architect  probably  designed  St.  Peter's  at  Poitiers. 
The  works  started  at  the  east  end,  which  is  square,  and  rises 
from  the  down-slope  of  the  hill  like  a  solid  fortress,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  in  height;  Coligny's  troops  were  one  day  to 
riddle  with  bullets  that  big  quadrangular  target.  So  thick 
was  the  eastern  wall  that  the  round  chapels  ending  the  choir 
disappeared  in  its  depth. 

The  easternmost  bays  and  the  south  arm  of  the  transept 
were  built  about  the  same  time,  soon  after  1160,  and  their 
masonry  roof  belongs  to  the  first  phase  of  the  Gothic  of  the 
West.  Over  the  crossing  is  a  six-branch  vault;  for  the  rest 
of  the  church,  the  eight-branch  type  was  used.  The  lower 
half  of  the  inclosure  walls  is  ornamented  with  a  blind  arcade 
above  which  runs  a  circulating  gallery  carried  on  corbels 
carved  with  fantasy.  Again  was  used  the  artifice  employed 
in  Poitiers'  Romanesque  church  of  Notre  Dame-la-Grande, 

319 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

whereby  from  the  eastern  end  onward  the  edifice  grew  slightly 
wider  and  higher.  The  axial  line  deviates  considerably,  and 
it  is  known  that  this  cathedral  rose  during  different  periods. 

While  the  plan  and  the  beginning  of  the  work  were  of 
Alienor  and  Henry's  day,  the  greater  part  of  the  church  was 
erected  under  their  great-grandson,  Alphonse  of  Poitiers,  the 
brother  of  St.  Louis.  When  he  died  in  1271,  the  two  western- 
most bays  were  incomplete.  After  a  lull,  the  work  was  resumed 
at  the  close  of  the  century.  In  the  XIV  century  was  erected 
the  not  very  interesting  west  frontispiece  which  stands  below 
the  street  level  and  which  is  too  wide  for  its  height; 
it  would  have  been  better  had  the  towers  been  set  in  a  line 
with  the  aisles  and  not  planted  beyond  them  like  the  towers 
of  Rouen  and  Bourges.  The  first  of  the  Avignon  popes, 
Clement  V,  builder  of  the  Rayonnant  Gothic  choir  of  Bordeaux 
Cathedral,  watched  Poitiers'  Rayonnant  facade  rising  during 
the  sixteen  months  that  he  spent  in  the  city.  While  here  he 
learned  that  fire  had  damaged  St.  John  Lateran's  at  Rome 
and  ordered  it  to  be  reconstructed.  The  last  windows  in  St. 
Pierre's  Cathedral  have  the  Flamboyant  tracery  of  Jean  de 
Berry's  time.  That  amateur  of  art — sixth  in  descent  from 
Henry  and  Alienor — left  his  mark  all  through  middle  France. 

The  interior  of  Poitiers  Cathedral  is  an  ample  parallelogram 
of  eight  bays,  divided  into  three  aisles  of  equal  height,  by  a 
dozen  widely  spaced  piers,  each  of  which  is  a  cluster  of  lovely 
shafts  rising  from  pavement  to  vault-springing.  The  eighteen 
bombe  vault  sections  are  grace  itself.  As  the  light  floods  in 
from  the  big  lancets  in  the  side  walls,  one  scarcely  notices 
that  this  church  has  ground  supports.  The  plan  of  Poitou's 
Romanesque  churches — seen  at  its  best  at  St.  Savin  1 — shows 

1  St.  Savin  lies  thirty  miles  from  Poitiers.  Its  choir  and  transept  belong  to  the 
early  part  of  the  XII  century,  and  its  nave  was  erected  about  thirty  years  after.  Its 
donjonlike  tower  was  crowned  later  by  a  spire,  the  highest  in  southwest  France  with 
St.  Michel's  at  Bordeaux.  Like  Etruscan  vase  ornamentation  are  its  unique  frescoes 
giving  Genesis,  Exodus,  and  the  Apocalypse.  On  the  route  from  Poitiers  to  St.  Savin 
lies  Chauvigny,  "the  pearl  of  Poitou,"  with  the  ruins  of  several  castles.  Its  church 
of  St.  Pierre  has  a  decorated  apse  and  some  eight-branch  Plantagenet  vaults;  its 
church  of  Notre  Dame  possesses  some  XV-century  frescoes. 

Another  of  the  chief  Poitou-Romanesque  churches  is  at  St.  Maixent,  thirty  miles 

320 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

adroit  construction,  since  it  employed  the  aisles  to  buttress 
the  principal  span,  and  used  one  roof  to  cover  the  entire 
structure. 

Poitiers'  memorable  Crucifixion  window  is  in  the  flat, 
eastern  wall  of  the  central  aisle.  The  three  windows  in  that 
square  chevet  belong  to  the  transition  between  the  XII  and 
XIII  centuries.  That  to  the  north  was  the  gift  of  Maurice 
de  Blason,  who  became  bishop  of  Poitiers  in  1198,  and  who 
is  supposed  to  have  been  also  the  donor  of  the  Crucifixion, 
whose  date  has  given  rise  to  controversy.  The  straight  saddle- 
bars  still  used  in  it  were  abandoned  after  1200.  In  the  lower 
panel  of  the  central  light,  the  founders  of  the  cathedral, 
Henry  and  Alienor,  are  pictured  kneeling.  Alienor  knew  well 
Suger's  school  of  glassmakers,  and  as  M.  Male  has  proved 
that  all  the  Xll-century  windows  in  western  France  proceed 
from  those  of  St.  Denis,  very  likely  the  ex-queen  of  France 
was  instrumental  in  spreading  their  fame.  At  Poitiers  the 
apostles  gaze  upward  in  quite  the  same  attitude  as  those  in 
the  Ascension  window  at  Le  Mans,  an  accepted  work  of 
Suger's  craftsmen. 

Blue  as  profound  as  sapphires  and  a  crimson  that  glows 

from  Poitiers,  via  Niort.  The  nave  is  XII  century,  the  choir,  Angevin  Gothic,  and 
the  tower,  Flamboyant;  its  crypt  capitals  are  noticeable. 

The  abbey  church  at  St.  Jouin-de-Marnes,  near  Montcontour,  has  a  good  fagade, 
a  fine  Romanesque  tower,  a  transept  of  the  end  of  the  XI  century,  and  a  Xll-century 
choir  and  nave,  only  three  of  whose  vault  sections,  however,  are  the  primitive  ones. 
In  the  XIII  century  the  present  elaborate  masonry  roof  was  substituted.  It  belongs 
to  the  Third  Period  of  the  Plantagenet  school,  with  three  lines  of  keystones.  Airvault 
abbey  church,  not  far  away,  built  a  similar  much-ramified  vault,  the  prototype  for 
that  of  Toussaint,  at  Angers. 

Parthenay  can  be  included  in  the  trip  from  Poitiers  to  St.  Jouin-de-Marnes.  In 
its  venerable  church  took  place  the  scene  when  St.  Bernard  rose  in  majesty  at  the 
altar  and  compelled  the  giant  sinner  Guillaume  X  of  Aquitaine  to  repent. 

Three  miles  from  Poitiers  lies  St.  Benolt's  Romanesque  church,  with  a  XHI-century 
spire,  and  five  miles  away  is  Liguge,  where  St.  Martin,  under  St.  Hilary's  guidance, 
founded  the  first  monastery  in  Gaul.  Dom  Prosper  Gueranger  restored  Liguge  in 
1864,  and  here  J.  K.  Huysmans  lived,  as  he  has  described  in  VOblat.  The  XV-century 
church  was  rebuilt  by  that  prelate  of  the  Renaissance,  Geoffrey  d'Estissac,  whom 
Rabelais  came  to  visit. 

Congres  Archeologique,  1910,  St.  Savin;  p.  119,  Airvault;  p.  108,  St.  Jouin-de- 
Marnes,  and  the  latter  also  in  the  Congres  of  1903;  Prosper  Merimee,  Les  peintures 
de  St.  Savin  (Paris,  1845),  folio;  Ch.  Tranchant,  Guide  pour  la  visile  des  monuments 
de  Chauvigny  en  Poitou  (Paris,  1901). 

321 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

like  blood-red  rubies  make  of  Poitiers'  Crucifix  an  unapproach- 
able glory.  The  genius  who  conceived  it  had  brooded  over 
the  ecstatic  hymn  composed  for  the  glad  celebration  of  No- 
vember 19,  569.  This  is  the  Tree  of  Life,  effulgent  in  fecundity, 
on  its  branches  hanging  such  fruit  as  the  Ransom  of  the 
World,  the  vine  that  gives  sweet  wine  of  the  red  blood  of  the 
Lord.  No  agonizing  Christ  on  Poitiers'  Cross  ornata  regis 
purpura.  The  Saviour's  eyes  are  wide  open  to  indicate 
that  the  Christ  dies  not.  The  arms  are  extended  to  great 
length  as  if  embracing  the  entire  world.1  The  halo  is  marked 
by  the  Greek  cross,  emblem  of  divinity.  In  many  other 
chevets  of  France  the  Crucifixion  holds  the  central  place, 
in  the  Lady  chapel  at  Tours,  in  the  clearstory  at  Rouen,  in 
the  ambulatory  at  Bourges,  in  St.  Remi's  wide  gallery  at 
Rheims,  in  the  square  east  wall  of  Moulins,  and  at  Ervy. 
And  in  many  ways  was  the  Sacrifice  presented;  sometimes 
the  Cross  became  an  apple-decked  Tree  of  Knowledge  with 
Adam  and  Eve  beside  it;  sometimes  the  Saviour's  arms  were 
high  uplifted  and  angels  received  the  precious  blood  in  chalices. 
Never  was  the  meaning  of  Calvary  presented  with  more 
profundity  than  at  Poitiers,  whose  ancient  bishops  had  suffered 
exile  to  defend  the  Son  and  written  verses  to  exalt  him. 

The  other  lancets  of  the  cathedral  are  in  most  part  XIII- 
century  work  of  the  closely  woven  pattern  type  that  produces 
scintillation;  contrary  to  the  more  general  usage  the  medallions 
are  to  be  read  from  the  top  downward.  As  color  schemes 
they  have  been  composed  with  extraordinary  care.  Few 
church  interiors  can  equal  this  for  jeweled  riches:  'And  the 
building  of  the  wall  thereof  was  of  jasper  stone.  .  .  .  And  the 
foundations  of  the  wall  were  adorned  with  all  manner  of 
precious  stones — jasper,  sapphire,  chalcedony,  emerald,  sar- 
donyx, sardius,  chrysolite,  beryl,  topaz,  chrysoprasus,  jacinth, 
and  amethyst.' 

1  Probably  because  of  the  magistral  window  at  Poitiers,  the  Byzantine  tradition 
of  the  crucified  Christ  lingered  long  in  the  art  of  midland  France.  Over  an  altar  of 
the  chapel  of  Bourgonniere,  in  the  parish  of  Bouzille,  in  Angers  diocese,  is  a  remarkable 
XVI-century  polychrome  image  of  the  Saviour,  unwounded,  robed,  and  awake,  with 
arms  wide  outstretched  against  the  Cross. 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

Poitiers'  ancient  church  of  Notre  Dame-la-Grande  has  the 
appearance  of  a  cathedral,  and  its  elaborate  front,  the  best 
of  all  Romanesque  facades,  is  classed  among  peerless  works 
such  as  Vezelay's  portico,  St.  Gilles'  portal,  and  the  Auver- 
gnat  apses.  The  pre-Gothic  school  of  Poitou,  formulated  as 
early  as  1050,  excelled  in  sculptured  frontispieces,  decorated 
apses,  and  ornate  window  frames.  Sometimes  the  side  aisles 
bracing  the  principal  span  were  made  too  narrow,  as  here  in 
Notre  Dame,  but  where  the  school  reached  its  structural 
apogee  as  in  St.  Savin-sur-Gartemps  (which  has  lofty  ample 
aisles  and  splendidly  carved  capitals),  it  can  hold  its  own 
with  that  of  any  region.  Poitou  has  been  called  the  paradise 
for  lovers  of  Romanesque  architecture. 

In  Notre  Dame-la-Grande  are  some  XH-century  frescoes, 
but  its  modern  experiment  in  polychromy  is  distressing. 
Many  a  gathering  has  the  ancient  church  seen.  When  in 
1100  a  church  council  at  Poitiers  censured  the  illegal  marriage 
of  the  king  of  France  and  the  fair  Bertrada  de  Montfort, 
Guillaume  IX,  the  troubadour  duke  of  Aquitaine  who  was 
present — and  in  much  the  same  predicament,  living  with 
the  wife  of  a  neighboring  lord  —  made  a  scene  and  indig- 
nantly left  the  hall.  Stones  were  thrown  at  the  churchmen 
who  dared  censure  an  open  scandal.  Then  brave  Robert 
d'Abrissel,  founder  of  Fontevrault,  tore  off  his  cloak  and 
stood  forth,  in  token  of  his  willingness  to  suffer  in  so  good  a 
cause.1 

Poitiers'  abbey  church  of  St.  Hilaire  has  much  interest  for 
archaeologists.2  The  Vandals  destroyed  a  church  here,  the 

1  In  1106  gathered  another  council  at  Poitiers,  a  holy-war  rally,  but  the  war  was 
to  be  waged  on  Christian  Constantinople.     The  superb  Bohemund,  the  new  prince 
of  Antioch,  came  to  organize  the  expedition;    lie  had  gone  on  the  First  Crusade  for 
booty,  fierce  as  a  Norman,  astute  as  an  Italian,  in  person  like  a  Greek  god,  tall  beyond 
man's  normal  height,  broad-shouldered,  and  lithe — so  the  Greek  princess  at  Con- 
stantinople saw  him.     Philip  I  gave  him  his  daughter,  and  on  Tancred,  his  cousin, 
a  true  hero  of  the  holy  wars,  not  a  buccaneer,  the  king  of  France  bestowed  his  daughter 
by  the  fair  Bertrada  de  Montfort. 

2  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  Etude  archeologique  de  St.  Hilaire  de  Poitiers  (Caen,  1904) ; 
also  in  the  Congres  Archeologique  of  1903;    De  Longuemar,  "Essai  historique  sur 
1'eglise  Saint  Hilaire-le-grand  de  Poitiers,"  in  Memoires  des  antiquaires  de  VOuest, 
1866. 

323 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Saracens  burned  another,  twice  was  it  wrecked  by  Norse 
pirates  during  the  IX  century  when  St.  Hilary's  relics  were 
carried  to  Le  Puy  Cathedral  for  safety.  Then  a  daughter  of 
the  Duke  of  Normandy,  Emma,  the  mother  of  Edward  the 
Confessor,  had  her  architect,  Gautier  Coorland,  rebuild  the 
abbatial,  which  was  dedicated  in  1049.  Owing  to  continuous 
reconstructions,  little  of  that  period  remains,  save  in  the 
ambulatory  and  in  the  tower  which  once  stood  isolated. 
The  XII  century  added  the  oblong  cupolas  whose  only 
counterparts  are  to  be  found  at  Le  Puy.  To  support  its 
new  cupola-vaulting,  St.  Hilaire  built  two  rows  of  pillars 
with  a  narrow  passageway  between,  and  when,  in  later  times, 
outer  aisles  were  added,  the  interior  was  given  the  uncommon 
aspect  of  triple  aisles.  A  Huguenot  sacking  worked  irrep- 
arable damage,  and  after  the  Revolution  the  westernmost 
bays  of  the  church  had  to  be  demolished. 

In  Merovingian  times  the  two  most-visited  shrines  in 
France  were  St.  Hilary's  at  Poitiers,  and  St.  Martin's  at 
Tours.  When  Hilary,  the  thirteenth  bishop  here  (d.  368), 
returned  from  his  exile  in  Phrygia,  whither  he  had  been  driven 
for  combating  the  Arian  heresy,  he  brought  back  from  the 
East  a  fondness  for  the  interpretation  of  Scripture  by  allegory 
which  was  to  have  a  strong  influence  on  the  iconography  of 
Gothic  cathedrals.  To  pray  by  St.  Martin's  tomb  at  Tours 
there  came  north  the  Italian  poet,  Venantius  Fortunatus, 
who  continued  his  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  St.  Hilary,  the 
master  who  had  trained  Martin  in  the  spiritual  life.  Never 
was  he  to  quit  Poitiers,  where-  in  607  he  died,  its  revered 
bishop. 

In  those  days,  Radegund,  the  Thuringian  wife  of  Clotaire, 
son  of  Clovis,  had  retired  to  Poitiers  to  pass  her  life  in  study 
and  prayer.  Scripture  and  the  works  of  the  church  fathers 
were  read  in  Greek  and  Hebrew,  in  her  cloister.  About  her 
gathered  pious  maidens,  chiefly  of  the  Gallo-Roman  stock, 
harried  by  the  rougher  peoples  from  the  north.  Fortunatus 
became  for  Queen  Radegund  and  her  Abbess  Agnes  a  sort 
of  self-appointed  intendant;  he  sent  them  gifts  of  fruit  with 

324 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

verses.  Puvis  de  Chavannes  has  painted  it  all  on  the  walls 
of  Poitiers'  Town  Hall. 

St.  Radegund's  tomb  became  a  pilgrim  shrine.  The  savants 
see  no  reason  to  doubt  the  genuine  antiquity  of  the  queen's 
sarcophagus  of  black  marble  now  in  the  crypt  of  Jier  church, 
part  of  which  crypt  escaped  the  fire  of  1083  and  so  dates 
before  1000.  The  new  apse  was  dedicated  in  1099.  The 
three  big  bays  of  the  aisleless  nave  are  covered  by  Plantagenet 
Gothic  vaults  with  eight  branches,  and  along  the  walls  are 
the  same  blind  arcades  and  carved  carbels  as  in  the  cathedral. 
The  sacristy  shows  an  octagonal  dome  on  ribs.  The  church 
has  no  transept,  but  over  the  north  portal  is  a  XHI-century 
rose  window  of  deep  blue  hue,  between  which  and  the  apse 
are  some  XlV-century  windows  that  experimented  not  very 
successfully  with  colored  figures  in  white  glass.  The  porch 
is  good  Flamboyant  Gothic. 

Poitiers  boasts  the  oldest  extant  Christian  church  in  France, 
the  baptistry  of  St.  Jean,  in  whose  walls  are  Gallo-Roman 
IV-century  vestiges.1  There  is  VH-century  Merovingian 
work  in  its  apsidal  chapels,  and  the  later  Romanesque  and 
Gothic  times  added  their  quotas.  The  ancient  well  in  which 
baptism  by  submersion  was  practiced  has  been  preserved.  A 
son  of  Poitiers  feels  doubly  a  Christian  if  baptized  in  the 
church  of  St.  Jean's. 

The  venerable  little  edifice  to-day  lies  many  feet  below  the 
level  of  the  city  streets,  for  Poitiers  escaped  few  of  the  sackings 
of  history.  For  safety  from  the  Barbarian  invasions  some 
rich  Gallo-Roman  must  have  buried  the  statue  of  Minerva 
exhumed  in  1902,  in  the  garden  of  a  girls'  school,  and  now 
in  the  town's  museum.  It  is  a  most  lovely  Greek  marble  of 
the  VI  century,  B.C.2 


1  De  la  Croix,  Etude  du  baptistere  de  St.  Jean  de  Poitiers  (Poitiers,  1903);  E.  Lefevre- 
Pontalis,  "Les  fouilles  du  R.  P.  de  la  Croix  au  baptistere  de  St.  Jean  &  Poitiers,"  in 
Bulletin  Monumental,  1902,  vol.  66,  p.  529;    Mgr.  X.  Barbier  de  Montault,  Wuvres 
completes  (various  studies  on  the  monuments  of  Poitiers  and  its  region),  (Poitiers, 
Blais  et  Roy,  1899). 

2  Like  other  Greek  works  of  the  period  the  Minerva  at  Poitiers  shows  the  influence 
of  Egyptian  art  in  its  stiff,  regal  attitude.     The  proud,  full  chin  is  uplifted.     The 

325 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Henry  Plantagenet  and  Alienor  of  Aquitaine  built  in  Poitiers 
the  guard's  hall  of  the  Counts'  Palace,  in  the  center  of  the 
town,  on  its  highest  eminence.1  The  wall-arcading  is  like 
contemporary  work  in  the  cathedral  and  the  church  of"  St 
Radegund.  In  late-Gothic  times  the  south  wall  wras  remade. 
In  this  hall  the  second  husband  of  Isabella  of  Angouleme  made 
amends  to  his  suzerain,  Alphonse  of  Poitiers,  for  the  wrar 
to  which  her  jealous  haughtiness  had  forced  him  In  this 
hall  in  1307-08  the  accused  Templars  were  interrogated  by 
Clement  V,  the  pontiff  who  initiated  the  residence  at  Avignon ; 
and  the  consequent  papal  subserviency  to  the  French  crown 
Philippe  le  Bel  cowed  the  pope,  and  the  group  of  anti-cleric 
legists  who  controlled  the  king  arranged  that  only  picked 
specimens  of  the  doomed  military  Order  should  appear  at 
Poitiers.  The  royal  coffers  were  empty  and  those  of  the 
Templars  were  full. 

Torture  and  intimidation  had  wrung  from  all  too  many  of 
the  monk-knights  false  avowals  of  guilt.  In  Spain,  where  the 
investigation  wras  carried  on  without  torture,  the  bishops  found 
no  heresy  in  the  Order;  instead,  they  bore  testimony  to  its 
exemplary  standing.  One  brave  old  crusader  raised  his  voice 
in  honest  speech:  "Let  him  have  a  care,"  wrote  Joinville, 
"this  king  who  now  reigns.  Let  him  amend  his  ways,  lest 
God  strike  him  down  without  mercy."  The  Grand  Master 
of  the  Templars,  Jacques  Molay,  was  burned  publicly  in 
Paris,  calling  on  king  and  pope  to  meet  him  before  God's 
judgment  seat  within  the  year.  A  month  later  Clement  V 
died,  and  before  1314  closed,  the  young  king  met  sudden 
death.  And  the  people  recalled  that  when  Clement  was 
crowned  at  Lyons,  the  tiara  had  been  knocked  from  his  head 
by  a  collapsing  wall  and  one  of  its  precious  jewels  lost. 

Less  discouraging  wrere  other  doings  of  Clement  V  in  Poitiers. 
Here  he  dated  the  nomination  of  John  of  Montecorvino 


shapely  back  is  molded  by  a  leopard's  skin.  The  right  arm  is  missing,  but  the  left 
arm  is  honey-hued  and  as  delicate  as  flesh  in  appearance.  She  bears  the  olive  branch 
of  peace,  this  wise  Minerva. 

1  Lucien  Magne,  Le  Palais  de  Justice  de  Poitiers 

326 


PLANTAGENET  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE 

(d.  1328),  pioneer  of  Christian  missionaries,  to  the  see  of 
Peking.  Armed  crusading  had  run  its  course;  the  crusade  by 
preaching,  prayer,  and  penance  was  to  begin.  Already  in 
1245  Innocent  IV  had  sent  Dominicans  to  Persia  and  Fran- 
ciscans farther  east,  St.  Louis  had  sent  William  de  Rubruquis 
to  the  Mongols,  and  those  astonishing  Venetian  merchantss  the 
Polos,  had  roused  the  papacy  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  Cathay, 
the  far  Cathay  of  the  mediaeval  tradition,  to  which  Columbus 
was  seeking  a  shorter  route  when  he  accidentally  discovered 
America.  For  thirty  years  John  of  Montecorvino  missionized 
Tartary.  He  translated  the  New  Testament  and  the  Psalms. 
To  encourage  missionary  activity,  Clement  V  ordered  that 
Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Arabic  be  taught  publicly  at  Rome, 
Bologna,  Paris,  Oxford,  and  Salamanca. 

The  Hundred  Years'  War,  so  fatal  to  French  architectural 
progress,  surged  round  Poitiers.  After  Crecy,  in  1346,  the  hall 
of  the  Counts'  Palace  was  damaged  by  the  English.  In  the 
environs  of  Poitiers  took  place  the  bitter  French  defeat  of 
1356,  when  King  Jean  le  Bon  was  made  prisoner.  "  Et  jui  la 
morte  toute  la  fleur  de  chevalerie  de  France,"  says  Froissart. 
The  siege  by  Duguesclin  to  recapture  the  hill  city  from  the 
English  damaged  its  monuments.  WTien  the  Duke  of  Berry, 
son  of  King  Jean  the  Good,  became  master  of  Poitiers  he 
undertook  to  restore  the  Counts'  Palace,  and  he  had  noted 
Flamboyant  Gothic  masters  construct  for  him  the  splendid  triple 
chimney  piece  of  the  guard  hall,  decorated  about  1383  by 
Andre  Beauneveu  with  statues  of  Charles  VI,  of  his  wife 
Isabeau  of  Bavaria,  and  of  Jean  of  Berry  and  his  first  duchess. 
In  the  pignon  above  the  great  fireplaces  was  set  some  XIV- 
century  glass.  Guy  de  Dammartin  re-established  the  donjon 
tower  called  Maubergeon,  now  cut  off  at  the  third  story. 
The  images  of  the  counts  of  Poitiers,  decorating  it,  belong 
to  that  phase  of  French  sculpture  which  preceded  the  Franco- 
Flamand  school  at  Dijon.  Before  transalpine  influences 
were  imported,  a  truly  national  renaissance  had  begun.  The 
Tour  Maubergeon  and  the  pignon  of  the  great  hall  are  all  that 
remain  of  the  palaces  built  at  Poitiers  by  Jean  de  Berry;  but 

327 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

what  they  were  can  be  seen  in  his  illuminated  Book  of  Hours 
now  in  Chantilly's  museum. 

The  historic  hall  of  Poitiers  has  its  memories  of  Jeanne 
d'Arc.  Hither,  in  1429,  Charles  XII  brought  her  to  be  ex- 
amined by  learned  men.  When  one  of  them  told  her,  with 
condescension,  that  if  God  wished  to  deliver  France  he  had 
no  need  of  men-of-arms,  swift  was  Jeanne's  reply,  "Man  does 
the  battling  and  God  gives  the  victory."  Finally  her  judges 
reported  to  the  king  that  she  was  of  sound  sense  and  a  true 
Christian  and  appeared  to  be  sent  of  God,  and  that,  given 
the  desperate  need  of  the  kingdom,  they  advised  the  king  to 
put  her  at  the  head  of  an  army  for  the  relief  of  Orleans.  De- 
cision momentous  for  the  fate  of  France! 

Jeanne,  during  her  trial  at  Rouen,  often  referred  to  the 
answers  she  had  given  to  her  honest  judges  at  Poitiers:  "If 
you  do  not  believe  me,  send  to  Poitiers,  where  I  was  questioned 
before.  ...  It  is  written  in  the  book  at  Poitiers."  Cauchon 
might  wear  a  miter,  well  she  knew  it  was  not  the  Church 
which  persecuted  her,  though  the  English  left  no  stone  un- 
turned to  have  it  so  appear.  Jeanne  in  Poitiers  lodged  with 
Maitre  Jean  Rabateau,  advocate,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  his 
good  dame  to  spy  on  her  night  and  day.  Many  years  after 
she  testified  to  Jeanne's  habit  of  long  prayer  in  the  night-time. 
To  test  the  maid's  virtue  the  king's  own  mother-in-law  visited 
her.  That  able  Yolande  of  Aragon  had  brought  up  Charles 
VII.  Her  own  son,  the  young  knight  Rene  d'Anjou,  was  soon 
to  fight  under  Jeanne,  and  Yolande,  herself,  convinced  of  the 
Maid's  mission,  helped  with  funds  for  the  expedition  to  Orleans. 
They  say  that  Jeanne  made  answer  to  the  court  ladies  with 
such  sweetness  and  grace  that  she  drew  tears  from  their  eyes. 

The  old  hill  city  of  Poitiers,  so  ecclesiastical,  so  full  of 
national  memories,  has  had  the  good  sense  to  keep  itself  tres 
province,  and  its  street  directory  still  makes  a  sort  of  calendar 
of  saints.  At  Bourges,  the  mania  to  wipe  out  its  past  has 
reached  such  a  pass  that  the  rue  St.  Michel  is  now  the  rue 
Michel-Servet  and  the  rue  St.  Fulgent  the  rue  Fulton.  Poitiers 
has  no  desire  to  blot  out  her  high  historic  memories. 

328 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Gothic  in  the  Midi 

The  giant  struggle  we  have  witnessed  is  but  the  beginning  of 
a  long  and  complicated  historical  crisis  in  which  men  will  have 
to  make  their  choice  between  the  unlimited  augmentation  of 
power  (by  force,  riches,  and  success)  and  a  forward-moving  moral 
progress  (by  justice,  charity,  and  loyalty).  If  we  live  always  in 
exterior  things,  if  we  are  always  in  movement,  we  become,  little 
by  little,  incapable  of  recollection  and  fecund  meditation. 

— GUGLIELMO  FERRERO,  1917. 


T  has  been  said  that  the  Midi  adhered  long,  if 
not  always,  to  Romanesque  architecture,  even 
when  employing  the  Gothic  vault.  Gothic  art 
was  n'ot  an  indigenous  development  in  the 
south,  but  was  brought  in  the  wake  of  political 
events,  when  central  France  and  Languedoc  became  one 
with  the  royal  domain.  It  proceeded,  in  part,  from  the 
architecture  of  southwest  France,  and  in  part  from  the  classic 
Ile-de-France  Picard  region. 

The  realization  of  the  local  type  of  Midi  Gothic  was  Albi's 
fortress  cathedral,  which  comprises  a  wide  unaisled  hall 
covered  by  twelve  bays  of  diagonal  vaults  whose  span  is  sixty 
feet — the  width  of  Amiens'  nave  being  merely  forty-five  feet. 
The  buttress  are  disguised  as  walls  between  the  side  chapels, 
the  windows  are  long,  narrow  lancets,  there  is  no  triforium, 
and  the  roof  is  flat.  Ogival  art  such  as  this  has  retained  all 
the  grand  simplicity  of  Romanesque. 

The  chief  care  of  the  Midi  architect  was  to  avoid  the  flying 
buttress;  he  had  inherited  Rome's  admiration  for  wide, 
unincumbered  interiors,  and  its  aversion  to  showing  the 
structural  skeleton.  His  warm  sun  precluded  the  use  of  wall 
inclosures  that  were  composed  entirely  of  stained  glass,  which 
fragile  screens  would  have  necessitated  wide-spreading 

329 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

buttresses.  He  seemed  to  disdain  sculpture.  And  yet, 
during  the  pre-Gothic  day,  Languedoc  had  excelled  in  that 
important  branch  of  the  builder's  art,  as  Moissac's  wealth 
of  imagery  and  Elne's  lovely  cloister  show. 

Various  causes  led  to  the  nudity  of  sculpture  in  the  later 
churches  of  the  south.  The  Gothic  cathedrals  of  the  Midi 
were  erected  after  two  generations  of  the  Albigensian  strife 
had  impoverished  the  race.  The  new  mendicant  Orders  of 
Francis  and  Dominic  advocated  austerity;  the  best  Gothic 
of  Provence  is  the  Dominican  church  of  St.  Maximin.  The 
building  material  available  in  some  of  the  central  and  southern 
provinces  did  not  lend  itself  to  ornamentation;  the  lava  of 
Auvergne,  the  granite  of  Limousin,  and  the  brick  of  the 
Toulouse  region  are  unyielding  to  sculpture. 

The  chief  Gothic  churches  of  the  Midi  were  built  in  the 
second  half  of  the  XIII  and  the  first  part  of  the  XIV  centuries. 
First  there  rose  in  central  France  the  sister  cathedrals  of 
Clermont  and  Limoges — northern  Gothic  infused  with  the 
regional  spirit.  Directly  derived  from  them  are  the  cathe- 
drals of  Toulouse  and  Narbonne.  Albi  Cathedral  was  not 
begun  till  1282.  The  choir  of  Bordeaux,  built  by  the  first  of 
the  Avignon  popes,  is  a  classic  of  Rayonnant  Gothic,  and  so 
is  that  jewel  of  Carcassonne  Cite,  the  whilom  cathedral  of 
St.  Nazaire.  St.  Sauveur,  at  Aix-en-Provence,  the  cathe- 
dral of  Rodez,  and  Beziers'  fortified  church  were  the  work 
of  the  successors  of  the  apogee  period  of  Gothic.  At  Mont- 
pellier,  Mende,  La  Chaise  Dieu,  and  Avignon,  the  XIV- 
century  popes,  all  of  whom  were  meridionals,  built  Gothic 
halls  and  chapels. 

Memorable  and  interesting  as  are  the  Gothic  monuments 
of  the  Midi,  the  traveler  carries  away  the  impression  that 
the  inmost  soul  of  these  central  and  southern  provinces 
lingers  most  happily  in  the  venerated  shrines  of  Our  Lady 
and  St.  Michael  at  Le  Puy,  in  such  churches  as  Notre 
Dame-du-Port,  St.  Sernin,  St.  Trophime,  in  the  sculptured 
portal  of  St.  Gilles,  and  in  Maguelonne's  isolated  cathedral 
of  St.  Peter. 

330 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

CLERMONT-FERRAND » 

Si  c'est  un  aveuglement  surnaturel  de  vivre  sans  chercher  ce  qu'on  est, 
e'en  est  un  terrible  de  vivre  mal  en  croyant  Dieu.  ...  La  conduite  de 
Dieu,  qui  dispose  toute  choses  avec  douceur,  est  de  mettre  la  religion  dans 
I'esprit  par  les  raisons,  et  dans  le  cceur  par  la  grace. — PASCAL  (1623-62; 
born  in  Clermont). 

In  mediaeval  reckoning  that  mountainous,  central  province 
of  France  which  was  called  Auvergne  was  counted  in  Languedoc. 
Therefore,  to  place  the  cathedral  of  Clermont  in  this  general 
group  of  Midi  Gothic  is  permissible.  It  is  a  daughter  of 
Amiens,  of  the  northern  French  type,  and  yet  it  belongs  in 
a  marked  degree  to  its  own  volcanic  region  of  mountains  and 
storms.  In  it  is  the  endurance  and  sturdy  individuality  of 
Auvergne,  the  inmost  heart  of  France,  where  the  Romanesque 
work  may  be  said  to  be  indigenous,  so  directly  does  it  derive 
from  the  local  traditions  of  Rome  grafted  on  those  of  Gaul, 
and  scarcely  touched  by  those  of  Byzantium. 

The  chief  Gothic  church  of  Clermont  has  in  it  much  of 
Romanesque  austerity.  The  black  lava  of  which  it  is  built 
sets  it  apart  among  French  cathedrals.  "A  pious  fear  of 
God  makes  itself  felt  in  this  spot,"  wrote  a  son  of  Clermont, 
Gregory  of  Tours,  of  the  cathedral  governed  by  Bishop 
Sidonius  Apollinaris,  Gallo-Roman  and  "last  zealot  for 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1850  and  1895;  Abbe  Ph.  Gobillot,  La  cathedrale  de  Clermont 
(Clermont-Ferrand,  F.  L.  Bellet,  1912);  H.  du  Ranquet,  La  cathedrale  de  Clermont- 
Ferrand  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  ibid.,  "Les  archi- 
tectes  de  la  cathedrale  de  Clermont-Ferrand,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1912,  vol.  76, 
p.  7;  G.  Desdevises  du  Dezert  et  L.  Brehier,  Clermont-Ferrand,  Royal  et  le  Puy-de- 
Dome  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1910);  Louis  Brehier, 
L  Auvergne  (Collection,  Les  provinces  franchises),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1910);  ibid., 
in  Revue  de  Vart  chretien,  1912,  on  the  capitals  of  Notre  Dame-du-Port;  G.  Fraipont, 
L' Auvergne  (Collection,  Montagnes  de  France),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  E.  Vimont, 
Les  deux  principales  eglises  de  Clermont;  R.  de  Lasteyrie,  L 'architecture  religieuse  en 
France  a  Vepoque  romane  (Paris,  1912) ;  H.  Stein,  Les  architectes  des  cathedrales  gothiques 
(Paris,  1912);  Prosper  Merimee,  Notes  d'un  voyage  en  Auvergne  (Paris,  1838);  Alexis 
Forel,  Voyage  au  pays  des  sculpteurs  romans  (Paris  and  Geneva,  1913),  2  vols.;  Saveron, 
Les  origines  de  la  mile  de  Clermont;  Ambrose  Tardieu,  Histoire  de  la  mile  de  Cler- 
mont; G.  Desdevises  du  Dezert,  Bibliographic  du  centenaire  des  croisades  a  Clermont- 
Ferrand  (Clermont-Ferrand,  1895);  D.  Branche,  Auvergne  au  moyen  age  (Clermont- 
Ferrand.  1842);  Paul  Allard,  St.  Sidoine  Apolinaire  (Collection,  Les  Saints),  (Paris, 
Lecoffre);  Taylor  et  Nodier,  Voyage  pittoresque  dans  Vancienne  France.  Auvergne 
(Paris,  Didot,  1829-33),  3  vols. 

331 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Latin  letters."  And  though  not  a  stone  of  the  present  edifice 
is  of  historian  Gregory's  day,  one  often  murmurs  in  its  pre- 
cincts, " Terribilis  est  locus  isle"  and  one  often  experiences 
in  this  abode  of  Jehovah  the  Lord,  un  frisson  d'dme  a  la  Pascal. 
In  Clermont,  where  even  the  serene  Gothic  art  could  not  free 
itself  of  the  fire-torn  mountains  around,  the  somber  soul  of 
Pascal  first  experienced  religion.  That  he  should  overstress 
the  fall  of  man  and  original  sin,  what  wonder?  But  Jansenist 
in  temperament  though  he  was — overwhelmed  by  man's 
nothingness  and  God's  grandeur — the  mystic  Pascal  was  no 
rigid  pessimist.  Cathedral  and  man  of  genius  both  preach 
the  resurrection  after  the  fall,  both  have  the  upward  surge  of 
hope,  even  as  the  fearful  summit  of  the  Puy-de-D6me,  stand- 
ing over  Clermont,  outsoars  the  storm  clouds  hiding  its  base, 
to  rear  its  head  in  sunlight. 

For  all  its  soberness,  the  cathedral  of  Clermont  has  the  true 
Gothic  sweep  of  the  spirit  au-dela.  Happy  the  traveler  who 
first  approaches  it  at  sunset,  coming  slowly  across  the  moun- 
tain-walled plain,  out  of  the  Forez  hills  of  rushing  torrents 
where  is  set  the  Chaise  Dieu.  The  cathedral  crowns  the  foot- 
hill around  which  has  settled  the  city,  and  as  it  stands  sil- 
houetted against  a  bluish  haze  of  mountain — the  extinct 
crater,  the  Puy-de-D6me — it  fulfills  the  ideal  of  a  church  crown- 
ing a  city.1  Seen  from  the  town,  the  massed  volcanic  hills  are 
sufficiently  near  for  their  woods  and  villages  to  add  picturesque 
details  to  the  ever-changing  views,  yet  not  so  close  that  they 
hang  oppressively  over  the  city.  Other  views  of  the  cathedral 
can  be  gained  from  the  foothills  around  Royat,  whose  small, 
sturdy  church  was  fortified  to  bar  the  valley  into  the  huge 
mountain  behind  it. 


1  "II  est  peu  de  constructions  ogivales  qui  se  presentent  d'un  fac.on  plus  degagee 
et  plus  pittoresque.  La  sombre  masse  se  detache  de  la  ville  aux  rues  tortueuses  comme 
une  haute  statue  de  son  piedestal.  Les  deux  fleches  hardies  s'encadrent  dans  la  cirque 
majestueux  de  montagnes  volcaniques.  II  semble  que  la  cathedrale  soit  le  Mont- 
Saint-Michel  de  cette  baie  aux  lumieres  mouvantes.  Tantot  silhouettee  par  de 
vigoureux  eclairages,  tantot  estrompee  par  les  vapeurs  qui  planent  dans  la  vallee, 
et  quelquefois,  aux  heures  matinales  emergeant  de  leur  nappe  grise,  comme  une 
haute  mature  au-dessus  de  la  mer  tranquille,  elle  reste  toujours  fiere,  imposante, 
poetique." — Louis  GONSE,  L'art  gothique  (Paris,  1891). 

332 


GOTHIC   IN  THE  MIDI 

Lava  stone  is  dusty  black,  therefore  on  closer  inspection 
Clermont  Cathedral  has  somewhat  the  aspect  of  the  smoke- 
stained  churches  in  manufacturing  centers.  The  gray-black 
Volvic  stone  is  of  better  effect  within  the  churcn,  though  at 
first  that  interior  may  strike  a  chill.  Lava  does  not  lend 
itself  to  sculptural  decoration.  However,  the  essential  lines 
of  Clermont  are  of  such  masterly  proportions,  of  so  grand  a 
simplicity,  that  deeper  and  deeper  grows  the  influence  of  this 
church  on  those  who  frequent  it.  The  diagonals  etched  black 
against  the  white  vault  panels  fall  with  peculiar  ease  and 
vigor  on  the  tall  dark  piers.  The  slenderness  of  those  clustered 
columns  is  not  foolhardy,  since  lava  has  much  resistant  force. 
The  single  aisles  of  the  choir  and  the  double  aisles  of  the  nave 
rise  to  half  the  height  of  the  church,  and  we  have  seen  at 
Bourges  and  Le  Mans  that  when  pier  arches  are  above  the 
average  height  there  is  given  to  an  edifice  a  note  of  exotic 
beauty.  Like  Amiens,  the  height  of  this  church  is  three  times 
greater  than  its  width.  Its  vista  is  closed  imposingly;  the 
imaged  windows  of  its  high  apsidal  chapels  appear  symmetri- 
cally behind  the  arches  that  surround  the  sanctuary. 

The  story  of  the  chief  church  of  Auvergne  interests  the 
archaeologist.  The  crypt  belonged  to  the  previous  Carolingian 
church,  and  so  did  the  two  western  towers  until  the  XIX 
century.  M.  Viollet-le-Duc  removed  the  ancient  belfries, 
extended  the  nave  by  two  bays,  and  built  the  present  towers, 
whose  sky-pointing  spires  are  superb  in  the  general  view  of 
Clermont,  but  whose  details  can  be  criticized,  as,  for  instance, 
the  blocking  of  corner  niches  by  pinnacles  when  the  purpose 
of  a  niche  is  to  hold  a  statue.  Modern  Gothic  is  too  often  a 
cold,  hard  imitation.  The  stair  approaches  here  lack  the  old- 
time  amplitude  of  the  triple  portals. 

The  XHI-century  cathedral  of  Clermont  was  practically  the 
first  Gothic  monument  raised  in  Auvergne,  which  province 
adhered  stubbornly  to  its  own  exceptional  Romanesque  archi- 
tecture. The  first  stone  was  laid  in  1248,  in  the  same  year 
that  Cologne  Cathedral  was  begun.  The  founder,  Bishop 
Hugues  de  la  Tour,  had  attended  the  dedication  of  the  Sainte- 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Chapelle  at  Paris,  and  then  had  returned  to  Clermont  to  begin 
his  own  cathedral.  That  same  year  he  started  out  as  a 
crusader,  in  the  train  of  Louis  IX,  but  as  he  died  in  Egypt 
the  work  on  the  church  was  not  continued  seriously  till  1253, 
when  St.  Louis  helped  to  raise  to  the  see  of  Clermont  his 
friend  Guy  de  la  Tour,  nephew  of  Hugues.  Belonging  to  a 
feudal  family  of  great  possessions,  the  new  bishop,  too,  was 
able  to  be  munificent  toward  his  cathedral. 

In  1254,  when  St.  Louis  was  returning  from  his  unsuccessful 
crusade,  he  paused  in  Clermont,  to  replenish  his  depleted 
treasury.  Ten  years  later  he  presented  windows  to  the 
cathedral,  on  the  occasion  of  his  son  Philippe's  marriage  there 
to  the  daughter  of  Jaime  el  Conquistador  of  Aragon.  The 
lights  in  the  Lady  chapel  show  the  fleur-de-lis  and  the  donjons 
of  Castile,  and  are  apparently  the  work  of  Paris  craftsmen,  who 
controlled  the  vitrine  art  of  the  later  XIII  century.  That 
unskilled  local  workers  set  them  in  place  would  seem  to  be 
indicated  by  the  armature  bars  which  do  not  follow  the 
contour  of  the  medallions,  as  was  then  the  custom.  In  the 
choir's  clearstory  are  the  single  figures  and  grisaille  that  were 
in  vogue  during  the  next  century. 

Jean  Deschamps  made  the  plan  of  Clermont  Cathedral. 
He  may  have  studied  in  the  north,  since  certain  traits  of 
Picardy  appear  here,  but  the  spirit  of  the  work  is  regional. 
His  windows  do  not  fill  the  entire  upper  space  between  the 
active  members.  Under  Bishop  Guy  de  la  Tour  he  directed 
the  building  of  the  cathedral  for  almost  forty  years,  till  1287. 
Perhaps  he  designed  the  cathedral  of  Limoges,  in  west-central 
France,  since  its  plan  and  details  closely  resemble  those  of 
Clermont.  Bishop  Aymar  de  Cros,  who  carried  on  the  works 
in  Auvergne's  capital,  was  another  of  the  schoolmen  who  were 
builders  of  churches;  such  was  his  intellect  that  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas  willed  to  him  his  manuscripts  in  the  hope  that  his 
Summa  might  be  completed. 

Under  Bishop  Aubert  Aycelin  de  Montaigu  a  new  master- 
of- works  took  charge — Pierre  Deschamps  (1287-1325),  the  son 
probably  of  Jean  who  had  made  the  plans.  He  erected  the 

334 


GOTHIC   IN   THE   MIDI 

four  westernmost  bays  of  the  choir,  the  transept,  and  the 
easternmost  bay  of  the  nave  in  its  lower  parts.  From  1340  to 
1359  the  master-of-works  was  Pierre  de  Cabazat,  who  added 
three  more  bays  to  the  nave,  and  was  employed  in  those  same 
years  in  making,  with  Hugues  Morel,  the  abbey  church  of 
La  Chaise  Dieu  in  the  Forez  mountains  across  the  plain  from 
Clermont.1  An  Avignon  pope,  Clement  VI,  was  the  patron 
who  undertook  that  gaunt  granite  structure,  as  full  of  sorrow 
as  the  times  that  produced  it.  Clement  had  been  abbot  at 
La  Chaise  Dieu,  so  naturally  he  contributed  toward  the  erec- 
tion of  the  cathedral  of  Auvergne  as  did  his  successor  at 
Avignon,  Innocent  VI  (d.  1362),  a  former  bishop  of  Clermont. 
The  city  was  fortunate  to  have  one  of  the  notable  D'Amboise 
family  for  its  prelate  in  the  late-Gothic  day,  Jacques  d'Amboise 
(1505-16),  who  as  abbot  of  Cluny  had  built  at  Paris  the 
stately  residence  called  the  Hotel  Cluny.  Close  to  his  Auvergne 
cathedral  he  set  up  the  Fontaine  d'Amboise,  now  on  the  Cours 
Sablon.  The  eloquent  Massillon  was  a  later  bishop  of  Clermont 
(1717-42);  he  founded  its  town  library  and  bequeathed  his 
fortune  to  the  sick  poor  of  the  Hotel  Dieu.  Before  the  French 

1  The  Chaise  Dieu  monastery,  founded  by  St.  Robert  in  1043,  was  later  affiliated 
with  Cluny.  The  present  church  was  begun  in  1344  by  Clement  VI,  who  built  the 
choir  and  four  bays  of  the  nave.  The  abbatial  was  completed,  after  1370,  by  his 
nephew,  Gregory  XI.  Clement  had  Avignon  artists  prepare  his  funeral  monument, 
which  originally  possessed  over  forty  statuettes  representing  his  relatives,  for  he  came 
of  the  great  lines  of  Beaufort  and  Turenne.  The  Casa  Dei  abbatial,  though  possessed 
of  grandeur,  is  dull  and  heavy.  The  aisles  are  as  high  as  the  principal  span.  The 
octagonal  piers  with  uncut  capitals  lack  elegance  and  lightness,  the  windows  are  the 
narrowest  lancets,  and  there  are  no  flying  buttresses.  Molds  die  away  in  the  piers 
above  the  capitals — an  early  appearance  of  Flamboyant  Gothic.  The  cloister 
(1378-1417)  is  frankly  late-Gothic.  The  denuded  church  once  was  filled  with  the 
tombs  of  local  magnates,  among  them  those  of  the  Lafayette  family,  precious  pages 
of  French  history  obliterated  in  1562  and  1793.  As  if  to  shut  out  the  funereal,  humid 
aisles,  the  choir  has  been  lined  with  tapestries  (begun  in  1492)  unsurpassed  in  France. 
They  reproduce  the  Mirror  of  Perfection  and  the  Bible  of  the  Poor,  two  books  popular 
in  the  XIII  and  XIV  centuries.  Each  episode  of  the  Saviour's  life  is  accompanied  by 
scenes  of  the  Old  Testament,  prefiguring  it.  On  the  outer  wall  of  the  choir  screen 
is  a  sketch,  a  Dance  of  Death,  with  the  grim  skeleton  stalking  in  and  out,  touching 
with  his  chill  finger  pope,  baron,  burgher,  page,  field  laborer,  and  little  child.  No 
XHI-century  church  had  allowed  so  gruesome  a  theme  on  its  walls.  This  lugubrious 
allegory  came  into  vogue  after  the  Black  Death  of  1348,  when  a  third  of  Europe's 
population  perished.  Congres  Archeologique,  1904,  pp.  54,  402;  E.  Durand,  La 
Chaise  Dieu  (1903);  Maurice  Fangon,  L'eglise  abbaliale  de  la  Chaise  Dieu  en  Auvergne; 
Emile  Male,  L'art  religieux  de  la  fin  du  moycn  age  (Paris,  Colin,  1910). 
22  335 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Revolution  had  turned  to  violence  and  destruction,  in  Clermont 
Cathedral  gathered  the  people,  with  hearts  beating  high  with 
generous  desire  for  reform,  for  the  blessing  of  their  National 
Guard  .banner,  embroidered  by  a  community  of  nuns.  With 
all  too  tragic  swiftness  came  the  day  when  in  the  same  church 
were  lighted  bonfires  for  the  destruction  of  vestments  and 
missals.  Among  the  precious  things  then  wrecked  was  a 
portrait  statue  of  Louis  IX,  made  while  his  friend  Guy  de  la 
Tour  was  bishop.  Only  by  chance  did  the  cathedral  itself, 
riddled  with  bullets,  escape  annihilation. 

The  see  of  Clermont  has  gone  by  various  designations;  so 
ancient  is  this  city  that  it  has  been  called  successively  by  five 
different  names.  Here  where  is  more  Celtic  blood  than  in  any 
other  region  in  France,  save  Brittany,  the  Celtic  hero,  Vercin- 
getorex,  inflicted  on  Csesar  his  sole  defeat.  When  Gaul  became 
Christian,  Clermont  continued  to  be  important.  Her  first 
bishop,  St.  Austremonius,  was  one  of  the  seven  whom  Gregory 
of  Tours  says  were  sent  into  Gaul  in  250  by  Pope  Fabian, 
with  St.  Denis  of  Paris,  St.  Martial  of  Limoges,  St.  Saturninus 
of  Toulouse,  St.  Just  of  Narbonne,  St.  Trophimus  of  Aries, 
and  St.  Gatien  of  Tours.  At  the  close  of  the  V  century  Cler- 
mont's  bishop,  the  celebrated  Caius  Apollinaris  Sidonius,  poet 
and  scholar,  son-in-law  of  an  emperor,  made  his  stand  for  Latin 
culture  against  Teutonic  submersion.  Dearly  he  loved  his 
own  enlightened  Lyons,  but  of  Clermont  he  said,  "Such  an 
horizon  would  make  a  stranger  forget  his  native  land."  A 
generation  later  another  outstanding  Gallo-Roman  bishop  of 
Clermont  was  St.  Gall,  uncle  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  who  was  so 
just  to  all  that  even  Jews  marched  with  lighted  tapers  at  his 
funeral.  Some  twenty-six  of  Clermont's  bishops  have  been 
canonized. 

The  third  cathedral  of  the  city,  and  that  which  immediately 
preceded  the  present  one,  was  consecrated  in  946  by  Bishop 
Etienne  II.  Clermont  had  suffered  grievously  by  Saracen 
invasion,  followed  by  the  Northmen  inroads.  After  the  second 
Norman  sacking  the  ruined  houses  smoldered  for  a  month, 
and  in  the  streets  corpses  lay  unburied,  for  the  population 

336 


GOTHIC   IN  THE   MIDI 

in  terror  had  fled  to  the  countryside.  The  bishop  called  back 
his  flock  to  remake  their  homes.  In  his  new  church  was  a 
precocious  use  of  ambulatory  and  radiating  chapels,  a  dis- 
position which  was  to  lead  to  the  chief  beauty  in  the  Gothic 
cathedrals  of  the  land,  but  which  made  its  appearance  in  the 
Ile-de-France  only  in  the  XII  century.  Bishop  Etienne's 
Carolingian  cathedral  became  the  prototype  for  the  Auvergnat- 
Romanesque  school. 

In  the  good  Etienne's  church  prayed  the  first  crusaders  when 
by  papal  bidding  there  gathered  at  Clermont  a  mighty  council 
at  whose  tenth  and  last  session  was  preached  the  First  Crusade. 
Nature  herself  seemed  to  have  prepared  the  people's  minds 
for  some  vast  enterprise,  for  all  the  chroniclers  of  western 
Christendom  describe  the  sublime  shower  of  astral  stars,  thick 
as  snowflakes,  which  whirled  in  the  sky.  So  in  this  same 
primeval  Auvergne,  some  six  centuries  earlier,  at  the  break-up 
of  Rome's  empire  before  the  invading  Barbarians,  there  had  for 
three  years  been  earthquakes  and  fiery  volcanic  eruptions. 

Tradition  says  that  the  momentous  gathering  of  1095  took 
place  in  what  is  now  the  Place  Delille  and  the  adjacent  Cours 
Sablon.  Many  of  our  building  friends  were  present — Bishop 
Odo  from  Bayeux,  Bishop  Ives  from  Chartres,  Bishop  Hoel 
from  Le  Mans,  the  abbots  Geoffrey  of  Vendome,  Jarenton  of 
St.  Benigne,  and  St.  Hugues  of  Cluny,  and  from  Spain  came 
the  great  Bernardo  who  ruled  the  see  of  Toledo.  For  the 
people  of  Clermont  to-day,  November  28,  1095,  is  as  vivid  a 
reality  as  any  of  the  revolutions  of  yesterday.  A  statue  of 
Urban  II  stands  outside  the  cathedral.  Even  so  he  stood, 
said  a  witness,  as  one  having  authority,  high  above  the  vast 
throng,  on  one  side  of  him  the  stunted  Peter  the  Hermit  of 
Picardy,  and  on  the  other  the  Norman-Italian  Bohemund  of 
Taranto,  a  veritable  Greek  god  in  build  and  feature.  From 
end  to  end  of  France  Urban  journeyed  to  arouse  the  people. 
Now  he  used  persuasion,  now  invective;  sometimes  he  appealed 
to  idealistic  motives  or  propounded  colonial  policies  very  like 
modern  ideas.  Europe  had  good  cause  to  be  apprehensive. 
The  Almoravids  had  advanced  into  Spain.  The  Seljukian 

337 


Turks  were  a  menace  more  serious  than  the  Saracens.  Urban 
understood  the  peril  and  raised  his  voice  in  warning.  "Cease 
to  be  a  terror  to  peaceful  citizens,"  he  exhorted  the  gathered 
barons.  "Turn  your  arms  to  the  defense  of  the  soil  trod  by 
the  King  of  Kings,  of  the  tomb  over  which  rose  the  sun  of  the 
Resurrection.  .  .  .  The  great  cities  of  Asia  Minor  have  fallen 
a  prey  to  the  Mussulman,  who  has  planted  the  crescent  by  the 
Hellespont,  whence  he  menaces  Europe.  .  .  .  Nation  of  the 
Franks,  set  beyond  the  mountains,  nation  cherished  and  chosen 
of  God,  as  clearly  your  high  deeds  prove,  nation  distinct  from 
others  by  your  situation,  by  your  faith,  by  your  respect  for 
Mother  Church,  to  you  I  address  my  plea.  .  .  .  Who  should 
right  these  wrongs  but  you  who  have  received  from  on  high 
agility  of  body,  the  training  of  arms  and  grandeur  of  soul?  .  .  . 
Cease  these  mutual  wars!  .  .  .  Jesus  Christ  died  for  you. 
You  should  be  willing  to  die  for  him."  And  a  great  answering 
cry  rose  from  the  hundred  thousand  gathered  there,  "God  wills 
it,"  to  be  the  rallying  call  of  the  crusades. 

Thus  in  the  heart  of  France  a  French  pope  initiated  the 
cosmic  ventures  which  were  to  change  European  ways  of  life, 
ventures  in  which  Frenchmen  played  a  leading  part  so  that 
to  this  day  a  European  is  called  a  Frank  by  a  Mohammedan. 
One  can  easily  see  in  the  crusades  only  their  failures  and  their 
crimes,  one  can  sneer  at  them  with  Voltaire — who  sneered 
at  Jeanne  d'Arc.  Europe's  aggression  was  needed  then  to  save 
Christianity  from  Asiatic  immobility.  The  benefits  of  the 
crusades  outweigh  their  delinquencies. 

Gesta  Dei  per  Francos  a  monk  called  his  chronicle  of  the 
First  Crusade.  And  while  those  feats  by  God  through  the 
men  of  France  in  the  East  went  on,  other  feats  for  God  were 
ventured  in  France,  the  raising  of  Gothic  cathedrals,  sister 
movements  that  gave  wings  to  the  soul,  purifying  and  molding 
the  faith  and  the  genius  of  those  virile  and  faulty  generations. 
Already  the  movement  was  stirring.  On  his  way  to  Clermont, 
Urban  II  had  seen  Verona  Cathedral  building  and  S.  Ambrogio's 
at  Milan.  He  had  blessed  S.  Abondio  at  Como.  In  France  he 
blessed  the  new  choir  of  St.  Sernin  at  Toulouse  and  the  material 


Notre  Dame  du  Port  at  Clermont-Ferrand.  Typical 
XH-century  Church  of  Auvergnes  Romanesque 
School 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

gathered  for  the  cathedral  at  Carcassonne.  Cluny's  new 
choir  he  dedicated,  and  various  other  Romanesque  churches. 
Before  the  Second  Crusade  set  out  Suger  had  built  St.  Denis. 

In  Clermont,  though  the  cathedral  of  1095  has  been  super- 
seded by  the  present  Gothic  structure,  there  is  intact  a  ven- 
erated sanctuary  where  Urban  had  a  votive  Mass  chanted  on 
the  eve  of  the  historic  council.  Every  morning  one  can  see 
the  men  and  women  of  the  city  gather  in  the  crypt  of  Notre 
Dame-du-Port  to  beg  a  blessing  on  their  working  day.  They 
may  not  be  able  to  put  into  words  what  it  is  each  feels  in  that 
subterranean  chamber  impregnated  by  the  petitions  of  those 
of  their  race  who  have  gone  before  them,  but  each  knows 
that  here  his  prayer  has  plenitude  and  patriotic  aspiration. 
A  custodia  matutina  in  Notre  Dame-du-Port,  usque  ad  noctem 
in  the  cathedral.  One  fears  God  in  the  cathedral,  one  loves 
God  in  Notre  Dame. 

Notre  Dame-du-Port  is  a  masterpiece  of  the  Romanesque 
school  of  Auvergne.1  When  it  was  built  lava  stone  was  not 
in  use  for  construction,  but  solely  for  decorative  purposes.  So 
curiously  alike  are  all  the  pre-Gothic  churches  in  this  province 
that  one  architect  might  have  planned  them.  The  venerable 
crypt  of  Notre  Dame-du-Port  was  built  in  the  XI  century. 
The  Romanesque  church  above  it  was  constructed  during  the 
XII  century  and  has  all  the  Auvergnese  traits:  a  central 
tower  in  two  stories  set  on  a  barlong  which  forms  a  kind  of 
upper  transept,  a  compact  apse  with  snug  absidioles  whose 
exterior  walls  are  decorated  by  colored  volcanic  stones  in 
marquetry  designs,  a  western  narthex,  and  a  principal  span 
covered  by  a  half-barrel  vault  undivided  by  transverse  arches 
and  buttressed  by  side  aisles  surmounted  by  tribunes,  which 

1  "Quiconque  en  a  senti  une  fois  la  beaute  forte  et  simple  de  ce  vigoureux  style  roman- 
auvergnat,  dont  1'origine  demeure  mysterieuse,  n'oublie  plus  ces  eglises,  solides, 
trapues,  ramassees,  dont  1'ordonnance  exterieure,  au  lieu  d'etre  un  decor  plaque, 
reproduit  en  relief  1'ordonnance  int6rieure.  Vue  du  chevet  surtout,  avec  1'hemicycle 
de  leurs  chapelles  serrees,  accolees  centre  la  masse  de  1'edifice,  elles  donnent  une 
saisissante  impression  d'aplomb  et  d'unite." — PAUL  BOURGET,  Le  demon  du  midi  (Paris, 
Plon-Nourrit  et  Cie,  1913). 

The  feast  of  Notre  Dame-du-Port  falls  on  May  15th,  and  the  city  is  illuminated 
with  myriads  of  little  lamps. 

339 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

meant  that  light  entered  the  middle  vessel  indirectly.  Auvergne, 
like  Burgundy,  attempted  to  light  her  upper  church  by  a 
clearstory,  but  found  the  experiment  hazardous  and  gave  it  up. 
Her  churches  have  stood  intact  through  centuries  of  harsh 
winters.  The  very  mortar  lines  were  made  means  of  decora- 
tion; wide  bands  of  red  mortar  were  found  to  be  effective  with 
blocks  of  black  lava.1  In  the  volcanic  soil  of  Auvergne  were 
elements  that  rendered  mortar  as  resistant  as  stone.  The  local 
Gallo-Romans  had  used  the  polychrome  lava  as  decoration. 

The  interior  apse  of  Notre  Dame-du-Port  is  a  gem  of 
masoncraft.  Around  the  tiny  processional  path  stand  engaged 
pillars  that  are  decoration  and  buttresses,  too.  The  regional 
skill  in  sculpture  appears  in  the  capitals  of  the  main  piers, 
where  the  story  is  related  with  animation,  even  if  the  figures 
are  too  squat  and  the  heads  too  large.  The  armor  indicates 
that  the  work  was  done  early  in  the  XII  century.  The  door- 
jamb  images  at  the  southern  entrance  of  the  transept  were 
sculptured  in  the  years  when  St.  Thomas  Becket  came  to 
Clermont  wearing  the  white  robe  of  the  Cistercians  who  had 
given  him  hospitality  in  France.  Crowds  gathered  every  day 
to  receive  his  blessing,  for  all  Christendom  held  him  to  be  a 
saint  defending  right  and  liberty.  A  cast  of  Clermont's 
archaic  portal,  whose  charm  is  exceptional,  with  its  seraphim 
of  the  mystic  triple  wings,  has  been  placed  in  the  Trocadero 
Museum  at  Paris.  When  this  side  entrance  was  completed, 
Richard  Coeur-de-Lion  was  making  over  his  claims  in  Auvergne 
to  his  lifetime  rival,  Philippe-Auguste,  which  cession  was  to  lead, 
in  time,  to  the  erection  of  the  Ile-de-France  Picardy  cathedral 
of  Clermont. 


1  Polychrome  decoration  is  to  be  found  everywhere  in  Auvergne:  Royat,  Riom, 
Mozac,  Saint-Saturnin,  Orcival,  Saint-Nectaire  (where  are  some  of  the  best  carved 
capitals  in  the  region),  Issoire  (observe  La  cene  sculptured  on  one  of  its  capitals),  Le 
Puy,  and  Brioude.  This  latter  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  XH-century  churches, 
showing  Burgundian  traits  as  well  as  those  of  Auvergne  and  the  Velay.  The  influence 
of  the  Romanesque  school  of  Auvergne  spread  to  Parthenay,  Saintes,  Nevers,  Toulouse, 
Santiago,  and  Avila.  Congres  Archeologique,  1904,  p.  542,  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  on 
Brioude;  Congres  Archeologique,  1895,  pp.  96,  238,  292,  on  Saint-Nectaire;  and  p. 
177,  "ficole  romane  d'Auvergne,"  H.  du  Ranquet;  Bulletin  Monumental,  1909,  vol. 
73,  p.  213,  "Saint-Nectaire,"  Abbe  G.  Rochias. 

340 


GOTHIC   IN  THE   MIDI 

Some  of  the  most  admirably  sculptured  capitals  in  Auvergne 
are  at  Mozac,  a  suburb  of  Riom.1  The  nave  of  Mozac's  abbey 
church  was  built  from  1131  to  1147  by  a  brother  of  Peter  the 
Venerable,  who  made  Cluny's  nave,  and  of  the  doughty  abbot, 
Pons  de  Montboissier,  who  erected  Vezelay's  portico  of 
paradise,  all  three  of  them  belonging  to  a  feudal  family  of 
Auvergne.  The  small  abbatial  holds  a  priceless  treasure,  the 
reliquary  of  St.  Calmin,  which  an  abbot  presented  in  1168. 
Its  fourteen  panels  of  Limoges  enamel  are  ornamented  in  gold. 
A  bold  attempt  was  made  to  rob  the  church  of  this  national 
heritage,  so  it  is  now  protected  by  electric  bells  and  every 
kind  of  burglar  alarm. 

"Clermont  le  riche,  Riom  le  beau"  so  ran  the  old  saying. 
Riom,  the  small  but  proud  rival  of  the  capital  of  Auvergne, 
was  a  town  of  magistrates  who  built  themselves  Gothic 
Renaissance  houses  as  individual  as  the  pre-Gothic  work  of 
the  province.  The  church  of  St.  Amable  has  a  Romanesque 
nave  and  an  early-Gothic  choir.  Jean,  Duke  of  Berry,  had 
Guy  and  Andre  de  Dammartin  design  the  XlV-century  Sainte- 
Chapelle  for  his  palace  at  Riom.  Its  brilliantly  cold  stained 
glass  was  commanded  for  the  wedding,  in  1389,  of  sixty -year- 
old  Duke  John  and  the  thirteen-year-old  heiress,  Jeanne  de 
Boulogne.  Froissart  has  described  the  curious  union.  Each 
window  panel  has  a  single  statue  under  a  canopy ;  the  prophets 
and  apostles  carry  appropriately  inscribed  scrolls.  A  XV- 
century  window,  representing  the  Bourbon  dukes,  Jean  II 
and  Pierre  II,  patrons  of  Moulins,  contains  a  St.  Marguerite 

1  Those  who  visit  Riom  (which  lies  close  to  Clermont)  should  go  to  Aigueperse, 
eight  miles  away,  to  see  Mantegna's  St.  Sebastian  and  a  Nativity  by  a  brother  of 
Ghirlandajo.  As  the  lord  of  the  region,  a  Bourbon-Montpensier — who  died  in  1496, 
had  married  the  sister  of  the  Gonzaga  ruler  of  Mantua,  these  treasures  probably 
came  through  that  source.  Congres  Archeologique,  1895;  and  1913,  p.  124,  Mozac, 
Abbe  Luzuy;  p.  144,  Riom,  P.  Gauchery;  Paul  Mantz,  "  Une  tournee  en  Auvergne," 
in  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1886;  Abbe  R.  Cregut,  La  merge  du  Mathuret  (Clermont- 
Ferrand,  1902);  ibid.,  Les  vitraux  de  la  Sainte-Chapelle  de  Riom  (1906);  E.  Clouard, 
Les  gens  d'autrefois  aux  XVe  et  XVI*  siecles.  (The  controversy  on  the  Madonna  of 
the  Bird  is  here  summed  up) ;  Gondalon,  Riom  et  ses  environs  (Riom,  Jouvet,  1904) ; 
A.  de  Champeaux  et  P.  Gauchery,  Les  travaux  d'art  executes  pour  Jean,  due  de  Berry 
(Paris,  H.  Champion,  1891);  Camille  Eulart,  Le  musee  de  sculpture  comparee  du 
palais  du  Trocadero  (on  the  vierge  a  I'oiseau),  (Paris,  II.  Laurens,  1913). 

341 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

so  similar  to  one  in  the  "Book  of  Hours"  which  Jehan  Fouquet 
painted  for  Etienne  Chevalier  that  the  window  is  thought  to 
be  designed  by  the  great  primilif  of  Tours. 

It  may  be  to  artists  of  Jean  de  Berry's  entourage  that  we 
owe  the  most  entrancing  Madonna  of  Flamboyant  art,  the 
vierge  a  Voiseau,  an  image  in  the  regional  stone  which  stands 
at  the  trumeau  of  the  XV-century  church  of  Notre  Dame-du 
Mathuret.  One  student  after  another  has  discussed  the  date 
of  this  exquisite  figure,  so  purely  French  in  essence,  whose 
simplicity  is  as  ample  and  unaffected  as  the  best  XHI-century 
art.  Work  as  exceptional  as  this  is  of  no  date  or  school,  but  is 
due  to  some  unrecorded  individual  genius.  In  that  same  late- 
Gothic  day  the  spirit  of  St.  Louis  and  Joinville  lived  again 
in  The  Very  Joyous,  Pleasing  and  Diverting  History  of  the  Gentle 
Lord  oj  Bayard,  written  by  the  Loyal  Servitor. 

The  serrated  foliage  of  the  Madonna's  crown  proves  the 
sculpture  to  be  late-Gothic.  M.  Gonse  places  it  midway  in 
the  XIV  century,  M.  Vitry  early  in  the  XVI,  and  M.  Enlart 
thinks  that  it  could  not  have  been  produced  before  the  XV 
century.  MM.  Male,  Palustre,  Merimee,  and  others  have 
discussed  it.  In  the  ideal  innocence  and  dignity  of  the  Virgin 
is  Michel  Colombe's  charm.  The  legend  was  that  in  Egypt 
the  infant  Jesus  modeled  images  of  birds,  then  breathed  on 
them,  imparting  life.  This  is  the  mystic  moment  which  the 
unknown  master  of  Riom  chose  to  render;  there  is  a  brooding 
reverence  in  the  young  mother's  face  as  she  gazes  at  her  Son, 
who  ponders  in  a  divine  wonderment  at  a  bird  about  to  fly 
from  his  hand. 

THE    ROMANESQUE    CATHEDRAL   OF   LE   PUY1 

Into  whatever  country  you  carry  war,  remember  that  children,  women 
and  churchmen  and  the  poor  are  not  your  enemies. — (Dying  words  of 
BERTRAND  DUGUESCLIN,  killed  near  Le  Puy,  1380). 

Le  Puy  is  hoary  with  history.  Perched  high  on  basaltic 
rocks  near  the  source  of  the  Loire,  picturesque  beyond  descrip- 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1904,  pp.  1,  403;  Noel  Thiollier  et  Felix  Thiollier,  L'archi- 
tecture  romane  du  diocese  du  Puy  (Le  Puy,  1900);  Felix  Thiollier,  Le  Forez  pittoresque 
et  monumental;  Mallay  et  Noel  Thiollier,  Monographic  de  la  cathedrale  du  Puy  (Le 

342 


tion,  it  stood  on  the  great  pilgrimage  route  from  Italy  to 
Compostela,  the  Via  Francigena  by  which  French  art  and 
poetry  passed  into  Spain  and  penetrated  to  Italy,  along 
whose  pilgrim  roads  are  found  portal  images  of  the  Round 
Table  heroes  and  the  sculptured  tympanums  of  France.2 
The  cathedral  is  built  near  the  top  of  the  town's  hill, 
and  above  it  on  the  hillcrest  has  been  set  a  mammoth 
statue  of  Our  Lady  cast  from  cannon  taken  at  Sebas- 
topol.  In  the  immediate  suburbs  rises  another  mass  of 
volcanic  rock,  a  needle  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in 
height.  The  oldest  part  of  the  chapel  crowning  that  extraor- 
dinary little  basalt  mountain  dates  before  the  year  1000.  The 
sanctuary  is  trefoil,  like  the  early-Christian  churches  at  Rome, 
and  like  St.  Laurent  at  Grenoble.1  At  the  end  of  the  XI  cen- 
tury St.  Michel  d'Aiguille  was  enlarged  irregularly.  From  time 
immemorial  a  shrine  dedicated  to  the  Archangel  has  crowned 
the  pinnacle :  "In  the  presence  of  angels  I  shall  sing  my  psalms." 
The  approach  to  the  cathedral  of  Le  Puy,  while  less  dif- 
ficult than  the  precipitous  needle  of  St.  Michel,  is  equally 
romantic  and  solemn.  You  mount  the  hill  by  the  Street  of 
Tables,  so  called  from  the  days  of  pilgrimages,  when  the 
merchants'  booths  lined  it.  As  you  climb,  the  way  changes 
to  a  broad  flight  of  steps,  more  than  a  hundred,  and  up  and 
up  you  mount,  with  the  polychromatic  fagade  of  the  cathedral 
rising  before  you  on  high.  Then  suddenly,  almost  before  you 
are  aware  of  what  has  happened,  you  pass  right  under  that 
western  front  of  the  church,  ascending  always,  climbing  under 
the  cathedral's  western  bays.  Formerly  you  could  have 

Puy,  1904);  Prosper  Merimee,  Notes  d'un  voyage  en  Auvergne  (Paris,  1838),  p.  242; 
Alexis  Forel,  Voyage  au  pays  des  sculpteurs  romans  (Paris  and  Geneva,  1913),  2  vols.; 
Paul  Mantz,  "  Une  tournee  en  Auvergne,"  in  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1887,  vols.  35, 
36;  Louis  Villat,  Le  Velay  (Collection,  Les  regions  de  la  France),  (Paris,  L.  Cerf); 
Mandet,  Histoire  de  Velay  (Le  Puy,  1860),  6  vols.;  De  la  Mure,  Histoire  des  dues 
de  Bourbon  et  des  comtes  de  Forez;  Michel,  Auvergne  et  le  Velay  (Moulins),  3  vols.  and 
atlas;  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France,  vol.  8,  p.  467,  "  Adhemar  de  Monteil";  p.  514, 
"  Urbain  II  "  (Paris,  1747). 

1  Marcel  Reymound  et  Ch.  Girard,  "La  chapelle  de  St.  Laurent  a  Grenoble,"  in 
Bulletin  Archeologique,  1914-16,  vol.  56,  p.  176. 

2  Emile  Male,"  L'art  du  moyen  age  et  les  pelerinages  "  in  Revue  de  Paris,  Oct.  1919, 
Feb. 1920. 

343 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

mounted  right  into  the  very  sanctuary  itself,  coming  to  it 
through  the  pavement.  To-day  the  stairway  branches,  and 
you  enter  the  church  at  the  side.  Never  was  there  such  an 
approach  to  the  House  of  Prayer  as  this,  never  a  more  sublime 
and  grandiose  conception  than  the  shadowed  stair  over  which 
hangs  the  facade.  Halfway  up,  where  stand  red  porphyry 
columns  and  doors  of  chiseled  bronze,  is  carved,  "If  you  do 
not  fear  crime,  fear  to  cross  this  threshold,  for  the  Queen  of 
Heaven  wishes  a  devotion  without  stain." 

M.  Thiollier  has  shown  that  the  Romanesque  school  of  the 
Velay  region  was  an  intermediary  between  Burgundy,  Au- 
vergne,  and  the  Midi,  with  the  meridional  influences  the 
strongest.  Le  Puy's  choir,  transept,  and  two  bays  of  the 
nave  were  erected  in  the  XI  century,  and  of  that  date  is  the 
cloister  walk  that  touches  the  church.  The  Transept  has  a 
tribune  at  each  end.  Beyond  the  chevet  stood  a  tower  of 
which  the  actual  one  is  a  replica.  As  all  the  level  space 
available  was  covered  by  these  structures,  it  became  necessary, 
when  they  wished  to  lengthen  the  nave  in  the  XII  century, 
to  build  out  from  the  hill  a  vast  masonry  foundation  as  a 
platform.  It  is  under  those  westernmost  bays  that  mounts 
the  stairway  of  Wonderland.  Each  bay  of  the  nave  is  cov- 
ered by  an  oblong  cupola  set  on  an  octagonal  base,  of  a  type 
found  again  only  at  Poitiers,  in  the  church  of  St.  Hilaire. 
At  Le  Puy  the  side  aisles  buttress  the  cupolas. 

No  one  should  miss  seeing  a  XV-century  fresco  discovered 
under  whitewash,  in  1860,  in  the  library  off  the  cloister.  The 
Liberal  Arts  are  symbolized  by  women  of  the  type  of  Anne  of 
Brittany  with  bombous  foreheads,  and  at  the  feet  of  each  sits  a 
disciple.  Thus  Aristotle,  with  the  sensitive  face  of  a  scholar,  is 
seated  at  the  feet  of  Logic,  and  Cicero  learns  of  Rhetoric. 

The  cathedral  of  Le  Puy  has  been  venerated  and  visited  by 
practically  every  ruler  of  France  from  Charlemagne  to 
Francis  I.  This  ancient  city  was  almost  chosen  as  the  meeting 
place  for  launching  the  First  Crusade.  Urban  II  paused  here 
in  1095,  and  the  bishop  of  Le  Puy,  Adhemar  de  Monteil 
(1087-1100),  accompanied  him  to  Clermont,  and  when  the 

344 


Le  Puy  in  Old  Auvergne 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

pope's  great  rallying  speech  was  ended  it  was  Bishop  Adhemar, 
his  face  shining  with  enthusiasm,  who  first  stepped  forward 
to  take  the  cross.  Urban  appointed  him  the  spiritual  chief 
of  the  expedition,  and  his  skill  in  military  strategics  proved 
of  use  since  he  had  been  a  knight  before  becoming  a  churchman. 
This  good  man  died  in  the  grievous  days  at  Antioch,  worn 
out  with  his  efforts  to  check  disorders  in  the  crusaders'  camp. 
To  Adhemar  de  Monteil  has  been  attributed  the  Salve  Regina 
called  in  the  olden  times  the  anthem  of  Puy.  To  Le  Puy's 
famous  shrine  St.  Louis  presented  a  thorn  from  the  Crown 
he  had  obtained  from  Constantinople,  and  on  his  way  back 
from  his  first  crusade  he  deposited  in  the  church  the  curious 
image  of  a  black  Virgin  given  him  in  Egypt. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  LIMOGES  1 

Bien  me  sourit  le  doux  printemps, 

Qui  fait  venir  fleurs  et  feuillages; 

Et  bien  me  plait  lorsque  j 'en tends 

Des  oiseaux  le  gentil  ramage. 

Mais  j'aime  mieux  quand  sur  le  pr6 

Je  vois  1'etendard  arbor6, 

Flottant  comme  un  signal  de  guerre. 

Quand  j'entends  par  mont  et  par  vaux 

Courir  chevalier  et  chevaux 

Et  sous  leur  pas  fr^mir  la  terre, 

Et  gens  crier:    "A  1'aide!  A  1'aide!" 

De  voir  les  petits  et  les  grands 

Dans  les  fosses  roulers  mourants. 

A  ce  plaisir  tout  plaisir  cede.2 

— BERTRAN  DE  BORN  (1140-1215). 

1  Rene  Fage,  La  cathedrale  de  Limoges  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris, 
H.  Laurens,  1913);  Abbe  Arbellot,  Monographic  de  la  cathedrale  de  Limoges  (Limoges, 
1853);    A.  Petit,  "Les  six  statues  du  jube  de  la  cathedrale  de  Limoges,"  in  Bulletin 
Monumental,  1912,  vol.  62,  p.  144.     MM.  Emile  Male,  Andre   Michel,  and  Louis 
Gonse  have  written  on  ihejubc;  Rene  Fage,  "Le  clocher  limousin  a  Fepoque  romane," 
in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1907,  vol.  71,  p.  262;    Anthyme   Saint-Paul,  "Archeologie 
limousin,"  in  L' Almanac  limousin,  1885;  Charles  de  Lasteyrie,  L'abbaye  de  St.  Martial 
de  Limoges  (Paris,  Picard,  1901);  A.  Leroux,  L'abbaye  de  St.  Martial  de  Limoges  (Tou- 
louse, 1901);  ibid.,  Geographic  et  histoire  du  Limousin  (Limoges,  1892) ;  Ernest  Rupin, 
L'osuvre  de  Limoges  (Paris,  1890);  A.  Meyer,  L'art  de  r email  de  Limoges  (Paris,  1896); 
P.  Lavedan,  Leonard  Limosin  et  les  emailleurs  frangais  (Collection,  Les  Grands  Artistes), 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens).     (The  meeting  for  the  Congres  Archeologique,  1921,  is  to  be  held 
at  Limoges.) 

2  Rendered  in  modern  French  by  J.  Demogeot. 

345 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Although  in  plan,  in  the  mode  of  construction,  in  the  cover- 
ing of  chapels  and  various  details,  the  resemblances  between 
the  cathedrals  of  Clermont  and  Limoges  are  such  that  it  is 
thought  the  same  Jean  Deschamps  designed  both,  the  cathedral 
of  St.  Etienne  at  Limoges  possesses  its  own  individual  char- 
acter because  of  the  fine-grained,  compact  granite  of  which 
it  is  built  and  the  unusual  talent  of  its  masons.  M.  Viollet- 
le-Duc  considered  the  apse  of  Limoges  one  of  the  most  scien- 
tific of  Gothic  constructions.  The  very  beautiful  leaf  foliage 
is  as  crisply  cut  as  when  it  came  from  the  master's  hand. 
Full  of  character  are  the  profiles  of  the  molds  used  in  the 
triforium  for  decorative  effect. 

Because  of  the  enduring  quality  of  their  building  material, 
the  Romanesque  edifices  of  Limousin  lasted  so  well  that  there 
was  little  temptation  to  tear  them  down  in  order  to  substitute 
Gothic  churches.  Till  the  Revolution,  Limoges  kept  its  great 
pre-Gothic  abbatial  of  St.  Martial,  and  its  cathedral  was,  like 
that  of  Clermont  in  Auvergne,  an  isolated  example  of  Gothic. 
Like  Clermont's  chief  church,  the  western  bays  of  Limoges 
were  not  built  till  the  XIX  century.  The  general  aspect  of 
St.  Etienne  is  Rayonnant.  Its  Flamboyant  Gothic  additions 
were  held  in  rigorous  restraint.  When  Bishop  Aimeric  de  la 
Serre  (1246-73),  a  man  of  wealth,  determined  to  remake  his 
church,  he  willed  his  fortune  to  the  enterprise.  As  Bishop 
Aimeric  had  just  died,  the  first  stone  was  laid  on  June  1,  1273, 
by  Helie  de  Malemort,  doyen  of  the  chapter.  For  over  fifty 
years  they  built  steadily  till  under  Bishop  Helie  de  Talleyrand 
the  choir  was  completed  in  1327.  A  second  period  of  work, 
from  1344  to  the  end  of  the  century,  resulted  in  the  south 
arm  of  the  transept  whose  rose  is  Rayonnant,  whereas  that  to 
the  north  is  Flamboyant.  In  its  tendency  to  eliminate  the 
horizontal  line  Limoges  is  eminently  a  church  of  the  XIV 
century.  The  shafts  before  the  piers  rise  unbroken  from 
pavement  to  vault-springing;  the  pier  arches  at  the  apse 
curve  are  very  pointed.  Yet  there  is  no  geometric  dry  ness  in 
this  interior.  Plain  wall  surfaces  above  the  main  arcade  and 
around  the  triforium  and  clearstory  add  to  its  robust  aspect. 

346 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

In  1370  the  Black  Prince  sacked  Limoges  and  left  little  but 
the  cathedral  standing.  Froissart  recounts  that  "there  was 
no  pity  taken  of  the  poor  people  who  had  wrought  no  manner 
of  treason  .  .  .  more  than  three  thousand  persons  of  all  ages 
and  both  sexes  were  slain  that  day  .  .  .  and  the  city  clean 
brent  and  brought  to  destruction."  It  took  time  and  treasure 
to  repair  the  devastation.  Only  from  1458  to  1490  were  the 
two  easternmost  bays  of  the  nave  erected. 

The  fourth  period  of  energy  at  Limoges,  from  1515  to  1530, 
created  a  gem  of  Flamboyant  Gothic,'  the  transept's  north 
fagade,  which  is  called  the  Portail  de  St.  Jean,  as  it  stood  near 
a  church  dedicated  to  the  Baptist.  Bishop  Philippe  de 
Montmorency  began  it,  and  his  successor,  Cesar  de  Villiers 
de  1'Isle-Adam,  completed  it,  as  their  carved  armorials  bear 
witness.  Because  it  stood  on  the  emplacement  of  the  old 
Romanesque  transept,  it  was  somewhat  too  narrow.  To 
obviate  that  impression  the  corner  buttresses  were  offset  at  an 
angle.  The  wooden  doors  of  this,  the  main  entrance  to 
Limoges  Cathedral,  are  of  the  Renaissance.  They  represent 
the  stoning  of  St.  Stephen,  and  the  first  Christian  missionary 
of  Limousin,  St.  Martial,  to  whom  an  early  local  martyr, 
St.  Valerie,  is  presenting  her  decapitated  head.  The  ring  of 
St.  Valerie  gave  symbolic  investiture  to  the  dukes  of  Aquitaine. 

Limoges  was  active  in  the  Renaissance  days.  Her  bishop, 
Jean  de  Langeac,  erected  an  elaborate  jube  between  choir  and 
transept,  a  rood  loft  which  is  one  mass  of  hanging  keystones, 
channeling,  bas-reliefs,  and  arabesque  panels,  with  six  big 
statues  of  the  Virtues  made  in  1536  by  an  artist  of  Tours 
named  Jean  Arnaud.  It  is  plain  to  see  that  the  Renaissance 
was  in  full  swing.  The  Labors  of  Hercules  were  set  forth,  and 
Bacchus  was  placed  beside  Ambrose  and  Augustine.  Perhaps 
the  huge  jube  and  the  episcopal  tomb  both  came  from  the 
studios  of  Tours,  where  had  settled  the  earliest  artists  of  the 
transalpine  Renaissance.  The  master  hand  that  made  the 
bishop's  tomb,  says  M.  Male,  followed  Diirer,  but  his  eight 
Apocalypse  panels  were  an  improvement  over  the  designs  of 
the  German.  Unfortunately  the  bronze  recumbent  figure  of 

347 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  munificent  prelate  whose  pride  it  was  to  adorn  his  church 
was  melted  up  for  pennies  in  1793.  There  are  two  other 
notable  tombs  in  the  choir's  procession  path — that  of  a 
bishop-builder,  Raynaud  de  la  Porte — the  only  funeral  monu- 
ment in  France  that  represents  stone  curtains  drawn  aside 
by  angels — and  the  tomb  of  his  nephew,  Bernard  Brun 
(d.  1350).  Three  of  the  Avignon  popes  were  natives  of  art- 
loving  Limousin. 

The  Revolution  robbed  Limoges  of  the  noble  abbey  church  of 
St.  Martial,  which  had  been  dedicated  by  the  pope  of  the  First 
Crusade  in  1095.  St.  Martial  had  formed  the  center  of  the 
Chateau  section  of  Limoges,  ruled  by  its  own  counts  with  a 
totally  different  administration  from  that  of  the  Cite  division, 
where  the  cathedral  stood,  and  whose  civic  master  was  the 
bishop.  Many  a  feud  had  Cite  with  Chateau.  The  abbatial 
of  the  "apostle  of  Aquitaine"  would  tell  us  the  story  had  not 
blind  passion  laid  it  in  ruins. 

For  three  hundred  years  no  effort  was  made  at  Limoges  to 
complete  its  cathedral's  nave  until,  through  the  enterprise  of 
Monseigneur  Duquesnay,  the  first  stone  of  the  sorely  needed 
western  church  was  laid  in  1876  and  the  structure  finished  in 
1888.  It  was  joined,  by  means  of  a  narthex  or  forechurch, 
to  the  ancient  tower  which  had  been  built  isolated  before  the 
Romanesque  cathedral  of  St.  fitienne.  In  its  three  lower 
stories,  now  hidden  by  cumbersome  masonry  propping,  save 
on  the  east  side,  the  tower  belonged  to  the  cathedral  which 
Urban  II  blessed  in  1095  when  he  dedicated  St.  Martial's 
abbatial.  Its  four  upper  stories,  mainly  of  the  XII  century, 
were  begun  by  Bishop  Sebrand-Chabot  while  the  overlord 
of  the  province,  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion,  was  on  his  crusading 
venture.  In  this  very  region,  at  the  castle  of  Chalus  near 
Limoges,  the  Lion-hearted  met  his  death  in  1199. 

The  dialect  of  Limousin  was  considered  the  purest  form  of 
Provengal  by  the  troubadours.  Here  in  the  west  center  of 
France,  Cceur-de-Lion's  troubadour  friend,  the  malignant 
breeder  of  dissensions,  Bertran  de  Born,  had  his  castle  of 
Hautefort  south  of  Limoges.  He  excited  Henry  Plantagenet 

348 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

against  his  sons,  and  spurred  on  the  sons  to  rebellion.  Unlike 
the  gentle  Valerie  who  carries  in  her  hands  her  own  head 
with  right  Christian  pride  since  she  lost  it  to  witness  to  the 
planting  of  the  Cross,  Bertran  de  Born,  sower  of  discord, 
is  represented  swinging  his  severed  head  by  the  hair  like  a 
lantern.  So  Dante  saw  him  in  the  ninth  chasm  of  hell  herded 
with  the  malicious  ones  who  had  abused  the  attribute  of  reason : 
"I  made  the  father  and  the  son  rebels  to  each  other,"  he  wailed. 
"Because  I  parted  persons  thus  united,  I  carry  my  brain,  ah, 
me!  parted  from  its  source.  Thus  the  law  of  retribution  is 
observed  in  me."1  And  equally  merciless  has  been  the  law 
of  retribution  for  Limoges,  than  which  no  other  city  has  suffered 
more  from  pillage,  pest,  and  fire.  Froissart  tells  us  that  during 
centuries  the  frontier  lands  of  Limousin  and  Gascony  exercised 
brigandage  as  a  mStier. 

Like  the  three  lower  stories  of  the  tower,  the  crypt  belonged 
to  the  Xl-century  Romanesque  cathedral  of  Limoges.  On 
its  groin  vault  was  painted  a  Byzantinesque  Christ  surrounded 
by  the  symbols  of  the  Evangelists.  The  cathedral  has  re- 
cently lost  by  theft  some  precious  enamels.  From  father  to 
son  in  Limoges  passed  the  skill  in  this  beautiful  art  craft. 
St.  Eloi  was  apprenticed  to  a  goldsmith  in  Limoges  in  the 
VII  century.  At  Le  Mans  is  the  XH-century  plaque  of 
Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  at  Mozac  an  unrivaled  Limousin 
reliquary,  and  Jean,  due  de  Berry,  prince  of  amateurs,  once 
possessed  the  best  XIH-century  work  of  Limoges  enamel,  the 
gold  King's  Cup,  now  in  the  British  Museum.  In  St.  Pierre's 
at  Chartres  are  the  splendid  Apostle  plaques  of  the  XVI 
century  by  Leonard  Limosin.  The  earlier  method  had  been 
to  sink  the  enamel  like  a  jewel  in  cells  or  cloisons,  hence  the 
name  cloisonne,  but  the  Renaissance  artists  used  no  inclosing 
ribbon  of  metal. 

The  only  ancient  windows  remaining  in  the  cathedral's  clear- 
story are  the  two  at  the  apse  end,  which  a  canon,  Pierre  de  la 
Rodier,  presented.  When  he  became  bishop  of  Carcassonne 
he  built  the  south  chapel  that  opens  from  St.  Nazaire's  nave 

1  Inferno,  xxviii:112-142.     ' 

349 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

(1323-30).  In  the  cathedral  chapels  are  some  XV-  and  XVI- 
century  lights,  and  fragments  of  earlier  glass.  On  the  same 
river,  Vienne,  which  at  Limoges  is  crossed  by  two  noble 
XHI-century  bridges,  lies  Eymoutiers,  some  thirty  miles  to 
the  west,  between  Clermont  and  Limoges.  Its  remarkable 
collection  of  windows  is  entirely  of  the  XV  century;  each 
panel  contains  a  single  figure  in  an  architectural  setting. 

French  writers  claim  that  between  Eymoutiers  and  Limoges 
took  place  the  apparition  of  the  Infant  Jesus  to  St.  Anthony 
of  Padua  which  became  a  favorite  theme  with  painters,  but 
the  Italians  insist  that  Padua  was  the  privileged  spot.  Limoges 
city  has  its  St.  Anthony  tradition.  In  its  square,  they  say, 
while  the  saint  was  preaching  in  1225,  his  audience  was  un- 
touched by  a  rainstorm  that  inundated  the  other  townspeople. 
As  we  have  seen  that  the  building  of  great  churches  was 
preceded  in  most  cases  by  a  spiritual  regeneration,  it  is  not 
extreme  to  think  that  the  fervor  roused  in  the  Midi  by  the 
great  son  of  St.  Francis  had  much  to  do  with  the  laying  of  the 
corner  stone  of  Limoges  Cathedral  in  1273. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  BORDEAUX1 

Celuy  qui,  d'une  doulceur  et  facilit£  naturelle,  me'priseroit  les  offenses 
revues,  feroit  chose  tres  belle  et  digne  de  louange:  mais  celuy  qui,  picqu6 
et  oultre  jusques  au  vif  d'une  offense,  s'armeroit  des  armes  de  la  raison 
contre  ce  furieux  appetit  de  vengeance,  et  aprez  un  grand  conflict  s'en 
rendroit  enfin  maistre,  feroit  sans  doubte  beaucoup  plus.  Celuy  la  feroit 
bien;  et  celuy  cy,  vertueusement :  1'une  action  se  pourroit  dire  bont6: 
1'aultre,  vertu;  car  il  semble  que  le  nom  de  la  vertu  presuppose  de  la  dif- 
ficulte  et  du  contraste.  Nous  nommons  Dieu  bon,  fort,  et  liberal,  et  juste, 
mais  nous  ne  le  nommons  pas  vertueux. — MONTAIGNE  (Mayor  of  Bordeaux 
from  1581  to  1585). 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1861;  Charles  Saunier,  Bordeaux  (Collection,  Villes  d'art 
celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens) ;  J.  A.  Brutails,  Les  vieilles  eglises  de  la  Gironde  (Bordeaux, 
Feret  et  fils,  1912);  ibid.,  "La  cathedrale  de  Bordeaux,"  in  Le  moyen  age,  1899-1901, 
vols.  12-14;  H.  Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artistique  et  monumentale  "Bordeaux,"  L.  de 
Foucaud,  vol.  5,  p.  105;  Cirot  de  la  Ville,  Origines  chretiennes  de  Bordeaux,  ou  hist, 
et  descript.  de  I'eglise  de  St.  Seurin  (Bordeaux,  1867) ;  P.  J.  O'Reilly,  Histoire  de  Bordeaux 
(Paris  and  Bordeaux,  1857),  6  vols.;  C.  Jullian,  Histoire  de  Bordeaux  (Bordeaux, 
1895);  L.  Barron,  La  Gascogne  (Collection,  Regions  de  la  France),  (Paris,  L.  Cerf); 
ibid.,  La  Garonne  (Collection,  Fleuves  de  France),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  P.  Courteault, 
Histoire  de  Gascogne  (Collection,  Les  vieilles  provinces  de  France),  (Paris,  Boivin 
et  Cie). 

350 


GOTHIC   IN  THE   MIDI 

While  Bordeaux  has  the  warm  fertility  of  the  Midi,  there  is 
much  of  the  north  in  the  big  commercial  city.  And  its 
cathedral  of  St.  Andre  is  typical  of  the  dual  temperament. 
The  nave  is  the  aisleless,  wide  hall  preferred  by  meridionals, 
the  choir  has  the  procession  path  with  its  circlet  of  chapels 
loved  by  the  north.  Excepting  Le  Mans,  Amiens,  and 
Rheims,  it  is  the  longest  cathedral  in  France. 

Bordeaux  was  an  important  city  in  the  wide  possessions  of 
the  dukes  of  Aquitaine.  In  1137  Alienor,  the  daughter  of  the 
last  William,  was  wedded  in  its  cathedral  to  the  prince  who 
immediately  ascended  the  French  throne  as  Louis  VII.  When 
she  left  him  after  fifteen  years  and  wedded  Henry  Plantagenet 
the  rich  city  on  the  Garonne  passed  under  English  rule. 
In  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  three  hundred  years  that  followed, 
from  1154  to  1453,  Bordeaux'  self-interest  kept  her  faithful 
to  her  masters  beyond  the  sea,  the  chief  customers  in  her  wine 
trade.  Bordeaux  remained  French,  however,  in  race  and  in 
the  expression  of  race,  architecture.  Alienor's  second  hus- 
band, Henry  II  of  England,  was,  like  herself,  more  French 
than  English;  of  his  thirty -four  years'  reign  he  passed  only 
twelve  in  England,  and  his  son,  Cceur-de-Lion,  was  another 
Anglo-Frenchman . 

The  hardy,  domelike  vaults  carried  on  diagonals  that  span 
the  nave  of  Angers'  Cathedral  (c.  1150)  have  been  considered 
the  earliest  extant  examples  of  the  Gothic  of  the  West.  And 
yet  it  is  possible,  thinks  M.  Brutails,  the  erudite  archivist  of 
the  Gironde,  that  the  vaults  of  the  same  type  which  were 
built  over  the  nave  of  the  present  cathedral  of  Bordeaux 
antedated  the  notable  ones  of  Angers.  In  Bordeaux  occurred 
one  of  the  premature  isolated  examples  of  Gothic  ribs  under 
the  south  tower  of  Ste.  Croix.  During  a  revival  of  builder's 
energy,  from  1052  to  1127  (under  the  eighth  and  ninth  dukes  of 
Aquitaine),  Ste.  Croix  and  St.  Seurin  were  reconstructed  and  St. 
Andre  begun.  It  seems  more  reasonable  to  suppose,  however, 
that  Anjou,  where  first  the  cupola  church  of  Aquitaine  met  the 
diagonal  ribs  of  northern  France,  should  have  been  the  cradle  of 
that  phase  of  the  new  architecture  which  we  call  Plantagenet. 

351 


The  nave  of  St.  Andre  is  a  difficult  page  to  read,  Romanesque, 
Gothic,  and  Renaissance  as  it  now  is.  The  Romano-Byzantine 
church  here  which  Urban  II  blessed  in  1096  exists  only  in 
vestiges  in  the  lower  walls  on  either  side  of  the  wide  hall. 
Originally  the  church  had  side  aisles,  but  they  were  obliterated 
when  the  XII  century  spanned  the  entire  width  with  Angevin 
diagonals.  The  side  walls  were  then  made  into  two  stories, 
a  lower  wall  arcade  surmounted  by  a  window  story,  such  as 
we  have  seen  in  the  cathedrals  at  Angers  and  Angouleme. 
In  1437  an  earthquake  caused  the  collapse  of  the  masonry 
roof  of  the  four  westernmost  bays,  which  were  recovered 
by  a  Flamboyant  Gothic  vaulting  rich  with  supplementary 
ribs. 

The  west  front  of  St.  Andre  never  was  developed,  as  the 
church  abutted  there  on  the  ancient  ramparts.  The  main 
entrance  was  the  Porte  Royale  in  the  north  flank  of  the  nave, 
whose  statues,  made  in  the  golden  hour  of  St.  Louis'  reign, 
were  used  as  models  by  Viollet-le-Duc  when  he  refilled  the 
empty  niches  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris.  There  can  be  no 
clearer  exposition  of  what  qualities  were  lost  in  Rayonnant 
Gothic  than  to  pass  from  this  apogee  portal  to  the  smoother, 
more  conventional  images  at  the  northern  entrance  to  the 
transept;  in  the  rugged  apostles,  full  of  character,  is  the 
touch  which  all  time  recognizes  as  genius;  in  the  aristocratic 
churchmen  of  the  XlV-century  door  is  mere  talent.  To  the 
nave  of  Bordeaux  a  XVI-century  archbishop,  Charles  de 
Grammont,  who  initiated  here  the  Italian  Renaissance,  added 
an  elaborate  buttress.  That  miniature  facade  is  called  the 
contrefort  de  Grammont.1 

Under  Archbishop  de  Mallemort  (1227-60)  St.  Andre 
superseded  St.  Seurin  as  the  cathedral  of  Bordeaux.  As  late 
as  1259  it  lacked  a  suitable  chevet.  Gascony  was  in  chaos 
in  those  years  when  Henry  III,  builder  of  Westminster  Abbey, 
sent  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  Simon  de  Montfort  (son  of  the 


1  In  the  nave  of  the  cathedral  is  the  neo-classic  tomb  of  Cardinal  de  Cheverus,  who 
died,  archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  in  1836.  Driven  out  of  France  at  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
lution, he  founded  the  see  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

352 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

leader  of  the  Albigensian  Crusade),  to  straighten  out  the  dis- 
orders. That  strong  administrator,  who  was  on  the  con- 
stitutional liberal  side  in  English  politics,  was  frustrated  by 
Midi  corruption.  Only  as  the  XIII  century  closed  was  built 
the  present  splendid  choir  of  Bordeaux  Cathedral,  a  classic 
work  of  Rayonnant  Gothic  before  that  phase  turned  to 
geometric  rule.  How  technique  cramped  and  killed  inspira- 
tion can  be  seen  in  the  later  Rayonnant  church  of  St.  Michel. 
At  St.  Andre,  it  is  true,  the  capitals  are  slight  and  the  profiles 
not  overvirile.  Decadence  is  foreshadowed,  but  not  yet  is 
the  art  academic  and  wiredrawn.  The  Midi  appears  in  the 
clearstory  and  triforium,  which  do  not  fill  the  entire  space 
between  the  shafts.  The  partiality  of  the  meridional  for 
unencumbered  interiors  had  something  to  do  with  making 
the  procession  path  thirty  feet  wide.  Most  grateful  is  the 
traveler  for  a  curving  aisle  around  the  sanctuary  after  having 
sojourned  among  the  cupola  and  hall-like  churches  of  Anjou 
and  Aquitaine.  Bordeaux'  choir  possesses  some  good  stained 
glass  of  its  own  period,  and  some  of  its  buttress  statues  are 
among  the  best  imagery  of  the  XIV  century.  Mary  Magdalene, 
carrying  her  vase  of  ointment,  appears  as  a  chatelaine  of  the 
Middle  Ages  with  the  bandeau  under  her  chin  then  fashionable; 
Alienor  of  Aquitaine  could  not  have  been  very  unlike  her. 

The  most  active  patron  of  St.  Andre's  Gothic  choir  was  the 
archbishop  of  the  city,  Bertrand  de  Got,  who  in  1305  became 
Clement  V,  the  first  Avignon  pope.  When  he  died,  in  1314, 
the  new  choir  was  practically  completed.  His  image  stands  at 
the  trumeau  of  the  transept's  north  door  (the  head  and  hand 
are  reproductions),  and  around  him  are  six  prelates  who  may 
be  intended  to  represent  the  French  bishops  whom  Clement 
raised  to  the  cardinalate.  In  technique  these  images  may 
surpass  the  weather-beaten  apostles  at  the  Porte  Royale 
(c.  1260),  but  they  are  their  inferior  in  spirit.  Five  of  the 
statues  are  studies  from  the  same  model.  Casts  of  the  transept 
portal  of  Bordeaux  are  in  the  Kensington  Museum  and  in  the 
Trocadero.  The  Avignon  popes  were  the  chief  art  patrons  of 
the  XV  century,  with  the  four  Valois  princes — Charles  V  of 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

France  and  his  brothers  at  Dijon,  Bourges,  and  Angers.  No 
pontiff  was  more  munificent  than  Clement  V.  While  he  was 
bishop  at  St.  Bertrand-de-Comminges  (Haute  Garonne)1  he 
renewed  that  small  cathedral,  which  consists  of  two  unequal 
parts,  a  Romanesque  facade,  donjon  tower,  and  forechurch 
of  the  day  when  St.  Bertrand  had  been  bishop  (1073-1123), 
and  an  unaisled  Gothic  choir,  begun  by  Bertrand  de  Got, 
continued  by  him  while  pope  and  finished  by  Bishop  Hugues 
de  Chatillon,  who  died  in  1352. 

The  Rayonnant  chevet  of  Bordeaux  Cathedral  and  its 
transept,  two  of  whose  towers  are  spire-crowned,  compose 
an  effective  architectural  group,  with  a  detached  campanile 
in  the  gardens.  In  order  to  give  employment  to  the  poor, 
Archbishop  Pierre  Berland,  who  had  been  a  shepherd's  son, 
erected  the  graceful,  isolated  tower  for  bells  to  hang  in,  "that 
God  might  be  praised  in  the  sky."  And  the  same  generations 
built  St.  Michel's  tower  (1472-92),  the  highest  beacon  in  south- 
west France,  mutilated  mercilessly  by  M.  Paul  Abadie's 
restoration.  The  lifeless  church  before  which  it  stands  is 
proof  of  how  much  needed  was  the  vim,  even  if  often  exag- 
gerated and  bizarre,  of  the  late-Gothic  movement.  M.  Enlart 
considers  Bordeaux  and  Bayonne  2  to  be  two  of  the  principal 
doors  by  which  the  English  Curvilinear  style  entered  France. 
There  its  name  is  Flamboyant  Gothic.  And  yet  in  this  same 
Midi,  M.  Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  who  denies  the  English  origin 
of  French  late-Gothic  architecture,  claims  to  have  found 
proof  of  his  theory  that  already  in  Apogee  Gothic  and  in  the 


1  The  beautiful  cloister  of  St.  Bertrand-de-Comminges  belongs  to  the  XII  century. 
In  1536  the  Renaissance  art  prelate,  Jean  de  Mauleon,  presented  the  carved  choir 
stalls.     Congres  Archeologique,  1874,  p.  249,  J.  de  Lauriere;    and  1906,  p.  79,  Louis 
Serbat;    Morel,  Essai  hist,  sur   St.  Bertrand-de-Comminges;    d'Agos,  Description  de 
Veglise  cathedrale  de  Comminges. 

2  The  cathedral  of  Bayonne  was  begun  about  1135  under  Alienor  of  Aquitaine's 
father.     The  choir  is  of  that  century;    the  nave  was  finished  about  1335,  and  some 
of  its  sculptures,  showing  the  national  crest  with  the  arms  of  both  England  and  France, 
recall  the  short  sovereignty  in  France  of  Henry  V  and  Henry  VI.     The  cloister  of 
Bayonne  ranks  with  those  of  Elne  and  Aries.     A  transept  is  indicated  merely  by  the 
spacing  of  bays.     The  XH-century  tower  was  rebuilt  from  1501  to  1544.     The  interior 
of  the  cathedral  is  more  firm  than  it  is  graceful,  owing  to  the  piers  being  six  feet  square 
and  to  an  excessive  sobriety  in  ornamentation.     Congres  Archeologique,  1888. 

354 


GOTHIC   IN  THE   MIDI 

Rayonnant  hour  were  developing  the  characteristics  of  the 
final  phase.  One  cannot  help  but  feel  that  the  English  build- 
ers' partiality  for  exuberant  decoration  had  something  to  do 
with  the  making  of  such  towers  as  St.  Michel  and  the  Pey 
Berland.  The  landscape  round  Bordeaux  is  as  rich  in  sky- 
pointiifg  spires  as  Calvados  in  Normandy. 

When,  in  1451,  the  English  surrendered  Bordeaux,  the  great 
Dunois,  Jeanne  d'Arc's  companion  in  arms,  was  received  as 
conqueror  in  its  cathedral  (where  in  1376  the  Black  Prince 
had  accepted  the  citizens'  oath  of  fealty  to  his  father),  and 
to  the  ringing  of  bells  and  cries  of  "Noel"  Archbishop  Pierre 
Berland  and  the  chief  men  of  the  town  swore  to  be  loyal 
subjects  of  France. 

Among  the  ancient  churches  of  historic  interest  in  Bordeaux 
is  Ste.  Croix,  rebuilt  by  Charlemagne  when  Saracens  destroyed 
it,  and  again  remade  (1099)  as  Romanesque  according  to 
the  school  of  Poitou.  Under  its  tower,  Gothic  ribs  were  used 
early  in  the  XII  century.  The  church  was  partly  wrecked 
in  1179  and  revaulted  at  the  end  of  the  XIII  century.  In 
the  sculpture  of  the  rich  fagade  is  a  certain  Assyrian  note. 
M.  Brutails  complains  that  Abadie,  the  restorer,  made  of  the 
frontispiece  a  neo-Angoumois  work  and  that  the  north  tower 
is  entirely  of  his  building. 

Memories  of  the  great  Emperor  Charles  haunt  the  former 
cathedral  of  Bordeaux,  St.  Seurin.  Fundamentally  it  belongs 
to  the  cupola  type  of  edifice,  and  though  incessantly  rebuilt 
up  to  the  XV  century,  it  presents  the  aspect  of  a  Romanesque 
church.  The  south  portal  (c.  1260),  sculptured  with  elaborate 
foliate  ornament,  has  images  of  unequal  merit.  In  St.  Seurin, 
says  tradition,  Charlemagne  paused,  in  778,  with  the  bodies  of 
the  heroes  of  Roncevaux  to  be  buried  at  Blaye,  his  nephew 
Roland  and  that  paladin's  comrade,  Sire  Olivier,  and  Arch- 
bishop Turpin  of  Rheims,  who  fought  pagans — par  granz 
batailles  et  par  mult  bels  sermuns.  On  the  altar  of  St.  Seurin 
the  emperor  laid  the  horn  that  Roland  blew  in  his  last  ex- 
tremity, the  olifant  which  the  Midi  folk  say  still  echoes  in 
the  Pyrenean  gorges : 

355 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Vient  a  Burdele  la  citet  de  valur, 
Desur  1'alter  seint  Sevrin  li  barun 
Met  1'olifant,  plein  d'or  et  de  manguns, 
Li  pelerin  le  veient  ki  la  vunt.1 

(Came  to  Bordeaux  the  city  of  great  price, 
And  on  the  shrine  of  Baron  St.  Seurin, 
The  olifant  Charles  laid,  filled  full  with  gold,      • 
And  to  this  day  pilgrims  can  see  it  there.) 

The  XX-century  pilgrims  to  the  old  city  on  the  Garonne 
must  remember  that  the  Chanson  de  Roland  was  written  a 
long,  long  time  ago,  and  that  to-day  the  olifant  of  the  paladin 
lives  only  in  the  pages  of  French  history,  where  its  place  is  as 
secure  as  the  standard  of  Jeanne  d'Arc.  A  la  peine,  d  I'honneur. 
Without  St.  Seurin's  church  we  might  have  forgotten  a  proud 
page  of  Bordeaux'  past. 

TOULOUSE 2 

Ici,  dans  Toulouse,  je  sens  palpiter 

Jj&  prodigieuse  histoire  du  libre  Languedoc! 

Et  je  vois  Saint-Sernin,  la  grande  e"glise  romane,  ... 

Et  le  rempart  ou  la  pierre  6crasa  1'oiseau  de 

Proie  que  je  ne  veux  pas  nommer.  .  .  . 

A  Toulouse  vivante,  &  Toulouse  qui  chante, 
J'e"leve  mon  salut  et  je  dis:    Ville  sainte! 
Au  soleil  a  jamais  e"panouis-toi  puissante!  .  .  . 
L'ame  du  Midi  refugie*e  en  toi, 
Chevaleresque  et  digne,  tu  as  travers£  les  ages! 
— Frederic  Mistral,  at  the  Jeux  Floraux  of  Toulouse,  1879.3 

1  Leon  Gautier,  ed.,  Chanson  de  Roland  (Tours,  Mame,  1895),  section  297,  1.  3684. 

2  Congres  Archeologique,  1874  and  1906;   H.  Graillot,  Toulouse  et  Carcassonne  (Col- 
lection, Villes  d'art  celebres),   (Paris,  H.  Laurens);    Jules  de  Lahondes,   Toulouse 
chretienne;   Veglise  de  St.  Etienne,  cathedrale  de  Toulouse;   ibid.,  "Les  chapiteaux  de 
St.  Sernin  de  Toulouse,"  in  Mem.  de  la  Soc.  archeol.  du  Midi  de  la  France,  1897;  An- 
thyme  Saint-Paul,  "St.  Sernin,"  in  Album  des  monuments  du  Midi  de  la  France,  1897; 
in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1899;    and  in  Revue  de  I' art  chretien,  1905,  vol.  48,  p.  145; 
Abbe  Lestrade,  Histoire  de  I'art  a  Toulouse  (Toulouse,  1907);   H.  L.  Gillet,  Histoire 
artistique  des  ordres  mendiants  (Paris,  1912);    A.  Marignan,  Histoire  de  la  sculpture 
en  Languedoc  des  XIe  et  XIIle  siecles  (Paris,  Bouillon,  1902);   Alexis  Forel,  Voyage 
au  pays  des  sculpteurs  romans  (Paris  and  Geneva,  1913),  2  vols.;  Roschach,  Le  musee 
de  Toulouse,  "Inventoire  des  richesses  d'art  de  la  France:  ministere  de  1'instruction 
publique"  (vol.8),  (Paris,  -1908),  4to;    Martin,  L'art  roman  en  France  (Paris,  1910); 
H.  Revoil,  L' architecture  romane  du  Midi  de  la  France  (Paris,  1873-90),  3  vols.;    R. 
de  Lasteyrie,  L' architecture  religieuse  en  France  a  Vepoque  romane  (Paris,  1912);    Vic 
et  Vaissette,  supplemented  by  Du  Mege,  Molinier,  and  Roschach,  Nouvelle  histoire 
de  Languedoc  (Toulouse,  Privat,  1872-92),  15  vols. 

3  Frederic  Mistral,  Poemes  (Paris,  Charpentier-Fasquelle,  1912). 

356 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

If  the  influence  of  both  the  north  and  the  south  is  felt  at 
Bordeaux,  the  unadulterated  Midi  reigns  at  Toulouse.  It  is 
eminently  the  capital  city  of  this  fertile  Languedoc,  where 
art  and  luxury  developed  precociously  in  the  earlier  periods 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  Here  the  troubadour  still  sings  in  the 
regional  tongue  which  might  to-day  be  the  speech  of  France 
(instead  of  a  dialect)  had  a  genius  such  as  Dante  written  in 
the  langue  d'oc,  the  most  gracious  form  of  the  Romance 
language.  It  is  spoken  in  Aragon  and  Catalonia — lands  where 
the  architectural  development  followed  the  same  trend  as 
that  of  French  Languedoc. 

Modern  Toulouse  is  not  a  handsome  city  like  the  Bordeaux 
of  to-day.  Its  most  imposing  church  is  not  its  cathedral  of 
St.  Etienne,  which  is  as  ungainly  outside  as  it  is  irregular 
within.  The  nave  and  choir  make  no  pretense  of  following  the 
same  axis  line,  since  they  never  were  intended  to  form  one 
edifice;  were  the  north  wall  of  the  nave  extended  down 
through  the  choir,  it  would  abut  on  the  high  altar. 

The  nave  is  of  enormous  span  like  that  of  Bordeaux  Ca- 
thedral. It  once  had  side  aisles,  but  the  entire  width  of  the 
edifice  was  thrown  into  one  hall  when  the  church  was  remodeled 
in  1211.  Simon  de  Montfort  (whom  Mistral,  as  a  patriotic 
son  of  the  Midi,  refuses  even  to  name  in  his  verses)  was 
besieging  the  city  while  the  Angevin  vaults  of  its  cathedral 
were  building,  and  Count  Raymond  VI  of  Toulouse  ordered 
that  the  works  should  continue,  war  or  no  war. 

The  choir  of  Toulouse  Cathedral  belongs  to  the  same 
current  of  northern  Gothic  that  produced  Clermont,  Limoges, 
and  Narbonne.  Begun  in  1275,  it  was  inspired  directly  by 
Narbonne  Cathedral,  whose  foundation  stone  was  laid  in 
1273.  The  plan  is  of  the  north,  but  the  feeling  is  meridional. 
After  the  death  of  the  wealthy  Bishop  Bernard  de  Lille,  the 
founder,  the  chapter  had  not  sufficient  funds  to  continue 
building  on  the  same  ambitious  scale.  Only  in  the  XV  century 
was  the  triforium  level  reached,  and  it  was  not  until  the  XVII 
century  that  the  masonry  roof  was  added.  Even  then  it  was 
so  skimped  that  the  exterior  aspect  of  the  choir  is  deplorable. 

357 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

At  St.  Etienne  there  seemed  to  be  a  fatality  against  symmetry. 
When  all  hope  was  given  up  of  replacing  the  Romanesque 
nave  by  one  of  the  same  character  as  the  choir,  it  was  decided 
to  make  its  entrance  more  important;  but  instead  of  setting 
the  new  Flamboyant  portal  in  the  center  of  the  west  fagade, 
it  was  placed  to  one  side.  The  window  dedicated  to  two  sons 
of  the  Midi,  St.  Roch  and  St.  Sebastian,  is  attributed  to 
Arnaud  de  Moles  who  made  the  celebrated  Creation,  prophets, 
and  sibyls  of  Auch  Cathedral.  Some  of  the  grisaille  in  St. 
Etienne  came  from  the  Jacobins. 

There  are  few  church  interiors  in  Europe  more  stately  and 
unique  than  that  of  the  brick  abbatial  in  Toulouse,  called  the 
Jacobins',  a  name  given  the  Dominicans  because  their  Paris 
convent  was  in  the  rue  St.  Jacques.  The  house  of  wisdom 
is  founded  on  seven  pillars,  Scripture  tells  us.1  So  the  Friars 
Preachers  planted  directly  down  the  center  of  their  lofty 
hall  church  seven  columnar  piers  that  soar  to  an  enormous 
height.  The  easternmost  one  is  set  in  the  middle  of  the 
apse  and  on  it  fall  some  fourteen  ribs.  The  vault  arches 
of  white  stone  against  the  red  brick  infilling  are  of  striking 
effect.  No  mediaeval  pillars — save  those  of  the  late-Gothic 
church  of  St.  Nicolas-du-Port  near  Nancy — are  higher  than 
the  seven  giants  of  Toulouse.  In  the  desecration  of  the 
edifice  after  the  Revolution,  its  pavement  was  covered  with 
soil,  for  the  stabling  of  horses,  but  within  the  last  ten  years 
excavations  have  exposed  the  true  bases  of  the  piers. 

The  Jacobins'  church  was  founded  in  1229  by  a  rich  citizen 
and  his  wife,  who  had  vowed  to  devote  a  large  portion  of  their 
fortune  to  God's  service,  should  their  only  daughter  recover 
from  a  desperate  illness.  The  edifice,  constructed  with  an 
audacious  massiveness,  as  if  for  eternity,  has  been  allowed 
to  fall  into  general  decay,  and  now  appears  more  desolate 
than  would  a  ruin  of  stone.  Like  alien  images,  gargoyles 
protrude  forlornly  from  the  red  brick  walls,  so  inconsistent 
is  brick  with  the  true  Gothic  spirit.  The  Midi  was  too  wedded 

1  "  Wisdom  hath  built  herself  a  house,  she  hath  hewn  her  out  seven  pillars." — • 
Prov.  ix:l. 

358 


The  Jacobins',  or  Dominicans',  Church  at   Toulouse 
(XIII  Century) 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

to  classic  traditions  to  excel  in  the  national  art,  which  it  never 
took  completely  to  its  heart.  There  is  little  of  the  ogival 
style  about  these  narrow  loophole  windows,  these  diagonals 
unbraced  by  flying  buttresses.  Gothic  in  the  south  has  an 
accidental  aspect. 

To  the  greatest  of  Dominican  churches  the  Avignon  pope, 
Urban  V,  who  covered  the  Midi  with  his  monuments,  gave 
the  body  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  greatest  of  Dominican 
doctors.  It  was  saved  when  the  Jacobins  were  sacked  in 
1562,  and  is  now  in  St.  Sernin,  whose  collection  of  authentic 
relics  is  the  richest  in  France — and  some  say  in  Europe. 

Toulouse  also  had  a  Franciscan  brick  church,  whose  wall 
bordered  on  the  city  ramparts,  so  that  passages  of  defense  were 
thrown  from  buttress  to  buttress.  That  church  of  the  Cor- 
deliers (rich  with  memories  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua)  was 
burned  in  1870,  and  its  lovely  XV-century  cloister  now  forms 
part  of  the  Museum  that  is  housed  in  the  former  convent 
of  the  Augustinians.  The  graceful  octagonal  brick  tower  of 
the  Cordeliers,1  saved  from  the  wreckage,  was  modeled  on 
that  of  the  Jacobins',  just  as  the  Jacobins'  tower,  in  lessening 
stories,  was  designed  probably  by  the  architect  who  made 
the  top  stories  of  St.  Sernin's  beacon.  Artists  have  preferred 
the  Jacobins'  belfry  to  its  prototype. 

The  paucity  of  stone  in  the  province  caused  the  creation 
of  a  school  of  brick  architecture  of  which  Toulouse  was  the 
center.  One  may  prefer  a  stone  architecture,  but  one  cannot 
deny  the  lovely  tones  of  brown  and  crimson  madder  acquired 
in  time  by  these  brick  monuments  of  the  Midi  that  seem 
created  especially  for  resistance  and  long  duration. 

Not  the  cathedral  of  Toulouse,  but  its  monastic  brick  church 
of  St.  Sernin,  is  the  supreme  religious  monument  of  the  city 
and  the  grandest  Romanesque  edifice  in  France.  Its  date 
has  been  discussed  by  MM.  de  Lasteyrie,  Corroyer,  Saint- 

1  From  the  Chapelle  de  Rieux  at  the  Cordeliers  came  some  curious  statues  which 
are  now  in  the  Museum  of  Toulouse.  Their  date  is  certain,  1324  to  1348,  yet  their 
realism  is  of  the  XV  century.  Again  Languedoc  proved  precocious  in  sculpture. 
In  the  Museum  is  a  XlV-century  statue  of  Bishop  Guillaume  Durandus,  author  of 
Rationale. 

359 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Paul,  and  Jules  de  Lahondes.  In  the  last  quarter  of  the 
XI  century  the  monks  began  the  choir  of  the  present  church, 
which  combined  the  characteristics  of  the  Romanesque  schools 
of  Burgundy  and  Auvergne.  Those  influences  had  passed 
south  by  way  of  Conques,  where  the  abbatial  of  Ste.  Foi 
had  been  rebuilt  a  generation  before  St.  Sernin.  In  1083 
Cluny  monks  replaced  at  St.  Sernin  the  canons  regular,  and 
where  Cluny  reformed,  building  activities  usually  followed. 

While  the  Toulouse  monastery  church  was  rising,  its  self- 
same plan  appeared  in  the  northeast  corner  of  Spain  in  the 
cathedral  of  Santiago  Compostela,  begun  in  1082,  too  direct 
a  copy  to  have  been  done  by  any  but  St.  Sernin's  own  archi- 
tect or  his  favorite  pupil.  In  Spain  the  works  went  faster, 
so  that  Santiago  Cathedral  was  completed  long  before  the 
abbatial  at  Toulouse,  and,  being  constructed  in  stone,  its 
interior  has  not  been  marred  by  centuries  of  whitewashing. 

"The  entry  of  Urban  II  into  Toulouse"  is  pictured  by 
Benjamin  Constant  in  the  Museum.  In  1096,  on  his  journey 
through  France,  preaching  the  First  Crusade,  he  blessed  the 
unfinished  choir  and  transept  of  St.  Sernin.  The  aisles  around 
the  transept  form  the  most  imposing  part  of  the  church.  As 
the  XI  century  closed,  the  transept  was  continued  and  the 
nave  begun  under  the  direction  of  a  monk-builder,  St.  Ray- 
mond Gaynard,  a  man  of  wealth  before  entering  the  cloister. 
He  conceived  the  masterly  plan  of  five  aisles.  The  side 
aisles  were  covered  by  a  quarter-barrel  vaulting  that  serves 
the  purpose  of  a  continuous  flying  buttress.  Perhaps  it  was 
when  the  original  architect  of  St.  Sernin  had  proceeded  to 
Santiago  Compostela  that  St.  Raymond  became  master-of- 
works  at  Toulouse.  In  1119,  a  year  after  his  death,  another 
pontiff,  Calixtus  II,  blessed  St.  Sernin. 

From  1120  to  1140  was  made  the  south  portal,  which  consti- 
tutes, with  Moissac's l  portal  and  cloister,  the  chief  works 

1  When  Moissac  was  affiliated  with  Cluny  and  reformed,  its  church  was  rebuilt  by 
Abbot  Durand,  whose  image  adorns  a  pier  of  the  cloister's  east  gallery.  The  walls 
of  the  nave  belong  to  the  edifice  consecrated  in  1063.  That  church  of  three  aisles 
was  remade  with  cupolas  and  blessed  in  1180,  and  of  the  same  date  are  the  fortified 
narthex  and  its  tower.  Owing  to  those  defenses  the  celebrated  portal  is  in  the  south 

360 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

extant  of  the  Languedoc  school  of  sculpture.  That  school 
needs  a  competent  biographer  who  will  do  for  it  what  M. 
Paul  Vitry  has  done  for  the  Region-of-the-Loire  school,  and 
MM.  de  Vasselot  and  Koechlin  for  the  imagery  of  southern 
Champagne.1  The  high-water  mark  of  the  regions'  sculpture 
was  attained  in  the  Annunciation  group  at  Moissac,  whose 
ethereal  elongated  figures  in  clinging  draperies  rouse  the 
imagination.  The  monks  of  Moissac,  being  Cluniac  and  not 
Cistercian,  found  imagery  profitable  to  their  souls.  What  were 
Bernard's  thoughts  as  he  gazed  at  their  haunting  rendering 
of  the  Incarnation? 

Puritan  Bernard  thundered  against  the  bizarre  grotesques 
carved  in  cloisters.  Up  to  1140  they  were  popular,  since 
the  untrained  stonecutters  found  it  easier  to  make  a  caricature 
than  an  image  true  to  nature.  The  invasions  of  the  Barbarians 
had  wiped  out  the  sculptor's  art,  and  the  men  of  the  XI 
century  had  to  rediscover  it.  While  St.  Bernard  sojourned 
in  Toulouse  he  lived  in  St.  Sernin's  monastery,  a  Cluniac 
house,  and  it  is  probable  that  he  paused  with  the  monks  at 
Moissac  on  the  memorable  journey  he  made  into  Languedoc  to 


wall  of  the  porch,  not  in  the  church  axis.  The  Gothic  ribs  beneath  the  tower  are 
rectangular  and  three  feet  wide.  In  the  XIV  century  the  cupolas  were  replaced  by 
diagonals.  The  cloisters  were  begun  about  1100  under  Abbot  Ansquitil,  who  made 
the  pier  images,  also  the  marble  parts  of  the  portal,  its  trumeau,  and  the  Visitation. 
Abbot  Roger  (1115-31)  finished  the  cloisters,  inscribing  the  carved  Scripture  scenes 
of  the  capitals.  During  the  first  quarter  of  the  XII  century  Moissac's  imagery  passed 
from  the  squat,  coarsely  executed  figures  of  the  cloister  piers  to  the  appealing,  ethere- 
alized  types — "fluides  creations  du  Languedoc" — the  Annunciation  group.  Mr. 
A.  Kingsley  Porter  thinks  that  door-jamb-figure  sculpture  was  first  used  by  Guglielmo 
at  Modena  Cathedral  (c.  1100),  and  from  Italy  passed  into  southern  France.  The 
current  of  art  flowed  in  the  opposite  direction,  too,  for  the  coupled  colonnettes,  typical 
of  the  Romanesque  cloisters  of  Provence,  Languedoc,  and  Spain,  soon  found  their 
way  across  the  Alps,  where  early  examples  are  to  be  seen  at  Verona  and  Aosta,  and 
at  the  cathedral  door  of  Verona  are  Languedoc's  elongated  figures  with  crossed  feet. 
The  Portico  de  la  gloria  at  Santiago  sets  forth  the  vision  of  John  the  Beloved  at  Patmos 
quite  as  Moissac's  tympanum  presents  it.  Congres  Archeologique,  1901,  vol.  2,  pp. 
43,  303;  E.  Rupin,  Abbaye  et  les  cloitres  de  Moissac  (Paris,  Picard,  1897);  Andre 
Michel,  "  Sculpture  romane  de  Moissac,"  in  Bull,  de  la  Soc.  Archeol.  du  Midi  de  la 
France,  1899  to  1901;  Roger  Peyre,  Padoue  et  Verone  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres), 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens). 

1  The  master  of  French  iconography,  M.  Emile  Male,  is  on  the  eve  of  publishing 
a  work  on  XH-century  imagery,  of  which  he  says,  "The  art  of  Languedoc  undulates 
like  a  flame  in  the  wind,  that  of  Provence  seems  cast  in  bronze." 

361 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

combat  the  fastsspreading  dualist  heresy  of  the  Catharists.  He 
was  accompanied  by  Bishop  Geoffrey  de  Leves  of  Chartres, 
the  builder  of  the  most  beautiful  tower  in  the  world.  Surely 
those  enlightened  men  mused  with  spiritual  benefit  before 
the  Ecce  ancilla  Domini  at  Moissac?  But  one  very  much 
doubts  if  Bernard  could  have  approved  of  four  hundred 
carven  capitals  in  the  abbatial  at  Toulouse. 

Slowly  the  making  of  St.  Sernin's  nave  advanced.  At  first 
it  was  built  story  by  story,  but  later  the  more  usual  procedure 
of  bay  by  bay  was  adopted.  In  1217,  from  the  roof  of  St. 
Sernin,  the  stone  was  thrown  that  killed  Simon  de  Montfort, 
who  was  besieging  Toulouse.  To  the  end  of  time  a  character 
such  as  his  will  rouse  both  enthusiasm  and  detestation.  His 
personal  morals  were  exemplary,  his  own  troops  adored  him. 
The  leading  men  of  Christendom  regarded  him  as  an  instru- 
ment of  Heaven  and  right  progress.  The  Midi  execrated 
him,  and  does  to  this  day,  even  as  Ireland  execrates  Crom- 
well, whom  good  Puritans  consider  a  hero,  for  the  religious 
psychology  of  those  two  born  leaders  was  curiously  alike. 
With  God's  name  on  their  lips  their  troops  felt  righteous  in 
butchering. 

With  the  death  of  Simon  de  Montfort  the  Albigensian 
wars  changed  in  character.  Simon's  son,  Amaury  de  Mont- 
fort, was  incapable  of  retaining  the  principality  won  by  his 
father's  sword,  so  he  sensibly  passed  over  his  claims  to  the 
king  of  France.  The  struggle  henceforth  was  purely  political. 
Blanche  of  Castile's  wise  head  solved  the  Midi  tangle  when 
she  married  her  son  Alphonse  of  Poitiers  to  the  heiress  of  the 
Count  of  Toulouse,  with  the  understanding  that,  should  the 
young  people  die  childless,  Languedoc  fell  to  the  French 
Crown.  Alphonse  gave  the  Midi,  says  Molinier,  the  first 
intelligent  administration  it  had  received  since  the  better 
times  of  the  Roman  Empire.  When  he  and  his  wife  died, 
returning  from  St.  Louis'  fatal  crusade  of  1270,  the  great 
southern  land  became  a  part  of  France. 

The  Albigensian  wars — for  with  reluctance  one  calls  those 
years  of  bitter  strife  a  crusade — delayed  the  completion  of  St. 

362 


GOTHIC  IN  THE   MIDI 

Sernin,  whose  main  fagade  is  gaunt  and  bare,  and  whose 
westernmost  windows  lack  stone  casements.  When  the  Midi 
came  under  French  rule  the  monks  attained  sufficient  pros- 
perity to  erect  the  octagonal  tower  in  five  stories — each  of 
lesser  dimensions  than  the  one  below  it.  The  upper  stories 
used  the  miter  arch  so  suited  to  brick.  M.  Enlart  has  called 
attention  to  the  affinity  of  the  dockers  Toulousans  and  the 
Lombard  steeples.  At  present  the  underpinning  of  the  tower 
obstructs  the  transept-crossing,  but  propping  is  better  than 
demolition,  which  is  what  M.  Viollet-le-Duc  proposed  in  his 
blind  enthusiasm  for  unity  of  style.  The  townspeople  in- 
dignantly protested  and  the  supreme  beacon  of  this  patroness 
city  of  art  was  saved. 

A  proud  boast  of  Toulouse  is  that  the  first  Dominican 
monastery  was  established  there,  and  by  Dominic  himself, 
the  saint  whom  Dante  called  "the  messenger  and  familiar  of 
Christ."1  The  Friars  Preachers,  like  the  Franciscans  (who, 
because  of  a  new  appreciation  of  their  founder's  character,  are 
found  sympathetic  by  many  who  still  call  a  Dominican  a 
"bloody  sort  of  monk"),  were  agents  for  the  quickening  of 
the  religious  fervor  of  the  XIII  century.  Both  Orders  were 
protests  against  abuses  such  as  luxury,  love  of  gold,  and  selfish 
privilege,  which  feudalism  had  helped  to  foster  in  the  clergy. 

Dominic  de  Guzman  was  a  Castilian  gentleman,  a  trained 
scholar,  a  man  whose  luminous  face  won  instant  affection 
and  respect.  In  the  first  years  of  the  XIII  century  he  came 
north  with  the  bishop  of  Osma  on  a  diplomatic  mission  relat- 
ing to  a  royal  marriage.  As  those  two  good  men  journeyed 
through  Languedoc  amid  the  fearful  havoc  wrought  by  heresy, 
the  vocation  of  the  younger  priest  took  shape.  Returning 

1  Paradiso,  xii:70-73. 

'Dominico  fu  detto;  ed  io  ne  parlo 

si  come  dell'  agricola,  che  Cristo 

elesse  all'  orto  suo  per  aiutarlo. 
Ben  parve  messo  e  famigliar  di  Cristo." 

("  Dominic  was  he  named;  and  I  speak  of  him  as  of  the  husbandman  whom  Christ 
chose  for  his  orchard  to  bring  aid  to  it.  Well  did  he  show  himself  a  messenger  and 
a  familiar  of  Christ.") 

363 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

from  Italy  in  1206,  he  and  the  bishop  of  Osma  laid  aside 
pomp  and  comforts  to  evangelize  according  to  primitive 
Christianity.  Only  too  clear  was  it  to  them  that  heresy  was 
fed  by  the  unworthy  priesthood  of  the  Midi  that  had  lost 
the  people's  esteem.  Two  generations  earlier  St.  Bernard 
had  lamented  over  the  same  evil.  Innocent  III  rebuked  the 
worldling  prelate  of  Bordeaux,  and  asked  the  bishop  of  Nar- 
bonne  if  he  had  a  purse  in  place  of  a  heart.  After  ten  years' 
heroic  missionizing  both  before  and  during  the  Albigensian 
Crusade,  Dominic  won  papal  sanction  for  his  new  Order  in 
1216.  He  was  then  a  man  of  forty-seven.  When  he  died, 
at  Bologna  in  1221,  he  left  flourishing  houses  all  over 
Christendom. 

The  function  of  his  Friars  was  to  teach  again  Christian 
doctrine  in  its  purity;  hence  it  was  only  natural,  when  the 
Inquisition  l  was  founded,  after  the  death  of  Dominic,  that 
it  should  be  intrusted  to  such  trained  theologians.  They  were 
to  be  a  kind  of  jury  to  ascertain  whether  a  case  was  heretical; 
if  it  was  so  decided,  then  the  civic  authorities  stepped  in  and 
took  action,  since  heresy  was  a  state  offense. 

The  best  minds  of  that  day  held  the  theory  that  the  decline 
of  religion  was  a  menace  to  law  and  order.  The  violent  re- 
pression of  heresy  to  prevent  the  dissolution  of  society  seemed 
then  as  necessary  as  the  repression  of  anarchy  seems  to-day. 
It  had  not  always  been  so.  "Slay  error,  but  always  love  the 
man  who  errs,"  was  St.  Augustine's  maxim.  St.  Ambrose 
and  St.  Hilary  reprobated  physical  violence  toward  heretics. 
Gregory  VII  had  protested  against  the  "impious  cruelty" 
which  had  burned  a  man  of  Cambrai  for  heresy.  "Heretics 
are  to  be  taken  by  force  of  arguments,  not  by  force  of  arms," 

1  Douais,  L' Inquisition,  ses  origines,  sa  procedure  (Paris,  1906);  A.  Molinier,  L' In- 
quisition dans  le  Midi  de  la  France  au  XIIIs  et  au  XIVe  siecles  (Paris,  1880) ;  Vacandard, 
L' Inquisition;  etude  historique  et  critique  sur  le  pouvoir  coercitif  de  I'eglise  (Paris,  1907), 
(tr.  London  and  New  York,  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  1908);  Jean  Guiraud,  Histoire 
patiale,  histoire  vraie  (Paris,  1911);  ibid.,  Questions  d' histoire  et  d'archeologie  chretienne 
(Paris,  1906);  ibid.,  St.  Dominique  (Collection,  Les  Saints),  (Paris,  Lecoffre,  1909), 
(tr.  London,  Washburne,  1913);  C.  M.  Antony,  In  St.  Dominic's  Country  (London, 
Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  1912);  Mortier,  Histoire  des  maitres  generaux  de  VOrdre 
des  Freres  Precheurs  (Paris,  1903),  5  vols. 

364 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

said  the  vehement  St.  Bernard  himself  on  one  occasion. 
Gradually  a  different  outlook  had  taken  possession  of  men's 
minds,  a  change  of  view  that  was  to  cost  the  Church  dear. 
Crusades  against  the  infidel  were  on  every  side,  in  the  Orient, 
in  the  Balkans,  in  Spain.  When  heresy  took  on  so  alien  and 
perverse  an  aspect  as  the  Catharist  errors,  which  were  at 
root  the  negation  of  Christian  standards  and  a  veritable  anti- 
social menace,  it  needed  but  an  incident  to  start  a  crusade 
against  heretics  in  France. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  had  the  Albigensians  won 
the  victory,  the  south  of  France  would  have  been  placed 
outside  the  pale  of  western  civilization  as  effectively  as  was 
southern  Spain  under  Moslem  rule.  Had  the  Midi  wars  been 
conducted  by  civil  authority  many  a  partisan  of  to-day  would 
not  hold  them  up  as  exceptional  horrors,  but,  since  all  the 
thinking  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  expressed  in  religious  form, 
unfortunately  the  term  "crusade"  was  used  for  the  embittered 
struggle  in  the  south. 

THE  ALBIGENSIAN  CRUSADE1 

La  v6rit6  n'est  point  a  nous,  nous  n'en  sommes  que  les  t^moins,  les 
d^fenseurs,  et  les  depositaires. — MASSILLON. 

So  interwoven  is  the  architectural  story  of  Languedoc 
with  the  Albigensian  Crusade  that  to  find  the  underlying 
significance  of  the  southern  monuments  it  is  needful  to  compre- 
hend the  trend  of  thought  of  the  Midi  people.  We  have  the 
unbroken  testimony  of  five  hundred  years  as  to  what  were 
the  tenets  of  Cartharism,  the  final  form  taken  by  the  Manichean 
heresy.  They  held  that  two  principles,  one  good  and  one 
evil,  ruled  the  universe.  In  the  third  century  Manes  in  Persia 
had  woven  a  curious  tissue  of  beliefs,  largely  Zoroastrian 
with  a  tinge  of  Buddhism,  and  had  coated  it  all  with  a  thin 

1  Jean  Guiraud,  Cartulaire  de  Notre  Dame-de-Prouille  (Paris,  Picard,  1907),  2  vols. 
Vol.  1  is  the  ablest  exposition  of  the  Albigensian  tenets;  A.  Molinier,  "  L'Albigeisme 
languedocien  au  XIIe  et  XIIP  siecles,"  in  Histoire  de  Languedoc,  vol.  1  (Toulouse, 
Privat,  1872-92),  15  vols.;  C.  Douais,  Les  Albigeois;  action  de  Veglise  au  XIII6  siecle 
(Paris,  1889);  A.  Luchaire,  Innocent  III;  la  croisade  des  Albigeois  (Paris,  Hachette, 
1905). 

365 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

veneer  of  Christianity  of  the  gnostic  type.  The  dualist  idea 
and  a  complete  rejection  of  the  Old  Testament  were  leading 
Manichean  doctrines.  Manes  was  put  to  death  in  Persia, 
but  his  teachings  lingered  on  in  the  Orient,  and  after  seven 
centuries  crept  into  Europe  by  way  of  the  Slav  countries  of 
the  Balkans.  Without  a  doubt,  the  intercourse  of  Europe 
with  the  Orient,  through  the  crusades,  fostered  the  gnostic 
superstitions.  The  dualist  heresy  cropped  out  in  the  north 
of  France,  but  after  the  XII  century  was  confined  more  or 
less  to  Languedoc,  where  the  Visigoths'  Arian  beliefs  had 
prepared  the  soil.  From  the  XI  to  the  XIII  century  these 
neo-Manicheans  were  called  Catharists.  The  local  name 
Albigensian  came  into  usage  because  in  the  region  round 
Albi,  though  not  especially  in  that  city  itself,  the  new  ideas 
flourished.  Toulouse  was  the  heretic's  stronghold. 

It  has  always  seemed  illogical  that  many  Protestants  who 
revere  the  Bible  should  be  sympathetic  toward  the  Midi 
heretics  who  reprobated  the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament 
as  a  vindictive  assassin,  the  creator  of  this  the  visible  world, 
which  is  Hell.  Life  is  a  nightmare,  they  taught,  and  suicide 
a  virtue.  Moses  was  sorcerer  and  thief  (and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments?). John  the  Baptist  was  a  strong  incarnation  of  the 
Devil  sent  to  combat  the  coming  Christ.  Baptism  by  water 
was  reprehensible.  On  this  muddle  of  the  Old  Law  was 
grafted  some  neo-Christian  spiritism.  Christ  was  the  God 
of  good  who  created  the  invisible  world  of  spirits.  He  was  a 
phantom  being  who  never  really  lived  on  earth  or  suffered 
or  died.  The  Albigensian  denied  His  human  nature.  Man's 
body,  living  or  dead,  was  Satan's  (Jehovah's)  creation  and  to 
be  annihilated;  respectful  burial  of  the  dead  was  frowned 
on;  marriage  was  sinful,  since  to  engender  was  to  capture 
souls  and  imprison  them  in  the  material  world  or  Hell. 
Libertinage  was  preferable  to  marriage,  since  it  did  not  pose 
as  virtuous.  We  find  in  an  official  recantation  of  his  Albigen- 
sian beliefs  by  a  Midi  lord  that  he  promises  to  accept  the 
Church's  tenet  that  marriage  is  not  sinful,  as  was  taught  by 
his  sect. 

366 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

The  Albigensian  heresy  was  an  anti-social  peril.  It  is 
sophistry  to  say,  as  has  Molinier,  that  we  do  not  know  what 
they  taught,  or  to  call  their  movement  a  step  in  freeing  the 
human  mind,  as  do  certain  modern  rationalists.  They  had 
two  moralities,  one  for  the  people,  or  Hearers,  and  a  stricter 
code  for  the  elect,  or  the  Perfect.  If  a  Perfect  relapsed,  he 
had,  after  death,  to  pass  through  another  existence,  or  Hell, 
in  another  body. 

This  current  of  anti-Christian  thought,  flowing  in  from 
the  East,  brought  with  it  the  over-rigid  asceticism  of  the 
Orient,  but  in  the  Midi  few  lived  up  to  ascetic  practices. 
There  were  minor  divergencies  in  the  tenets  according  to  the 
different  regions,  but  always,  East  or  West,  the  heretics 
were  one  in  their  detestation  of  the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  of  the  Church  and  her  sacraments,  especially  that 
of  Holy  Eucharist.  The  Church  was  held  to  be  a  prolongation 
of  the  abhorred  synagogue,  and,  like  it,  an  incarnation  of 
Satan. 

No  one  can  deny  the  crying  need  of  reform  in  the  Midi 
church.  But  the  Albigensians  damned  one  half  of  the  Creator's 
work — the  visible  world — and  the  perfection  which  they 
preached  was  race  suicide.  When,  more  recently,  Mormonism 
struck  at  the  root  of  the  social  fabric,  the  United  States 
government  took  immediate  action.  Had  the  Mormons 
resisted,  had  they,  for  instance,  murdered  an  ambassador 
from  Washington  and  war  resulted,  would  we  not  think  that 
the  use  of  force  by  the  Federal  government  was  legitimate? 

From  1100  to  1208  Rome  had  sent  one  peaceful  ambassador 
after  another  into  Languedoc.  St.  Bernard,  who  was  loved 
all  over  Europe,  was  stoned  in  the  Midi  streets.  The  Albigenses 
were  aggressive  wherever  they  outnumbered  the  orthodox, 
and  as  most  of  the  Midi  lords  held  the  new  tenets,  it  was 
the  believer  who  was  persecuted  in  Languedoc.  Churches 
were  attacked  and  bishops  flung  into  prison.  Because  the 
Count  of  Beziers  accepted  a  local  council  which  had  censured 
the  heretics,  he  was  murdered  by  the  people  of  Beziers  in  the 
very  church  and  on  the  very  day  where  they  themselves, 

24  367 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

forty  years  later,  were  massacred  by  the  northerners.  "On 
all  sides  is  the  image  of  death,"  wrote  the  visiting  bishop 
of  Tournai,  in  1182,  "villages  are  in  ashes,  churches  in  ruin, 
and  the  inhabitants  living  like  beasts."  Long  before  the 
crusaders  arrived  in  Languedoc  life  there  was  a  bloody  feud, 
and  like  ravening  wolves  the  heretic  lords  warred  one  on 
another;  their  repeated  divorces  were  a  flaunted  scandal. 

The  Albigensian  Crusade  is  no  isolated  page  in  the  annals 
of  the  Midi.  Read  of  the  anarchy  in  the  south,  previous 
to  1208,  and  then  pass  from  the  XIII  century  to  the  gigantic 
duel  between  France  and  England  in  the  Hundred  Years' 
War.  You  will  feel  no  sense  of  dislocation.  The  crusade 
methods  were  hideous,  but  not  exceptional.  In  the  later 
debacle,  Froissart  relates  as  a  matter  of  course  the  pleasant 
little  jaunt  of  the  Black  Prince,  fieur  de  toute  chevalerie,  into 
Languedoc,  in  1355,1  when  he  burned  some  seven  thousand 
houses  in  the  faubourgs  of  Toulouse,  when  Carcassonne  was 
twice  sacked  and  burned,  Narbonne  wrecked,  treasure  seized, 
and  all  ages  and  sexes  butchered  "till  a  line  of  fire  and  blood 
stretched  from  Toulouse  to  the  sea."  And  the  Black  Prince 
was  succeeded  by  avowed  freebooters  who  gnawed  France 
to  the  bone,  the  Grandes  Compagnies  who,  as  said  the 
harassed  pontiff  at  Avignon,  mettaient  tout  la  CrestientS  a 
combustion.  It  was  in  the  dire  times  of  the  XIV  century 
that  the  Midi  churches  fortified  themselves. 

War  slackens  architectural  work  in  any  period.  A  radical 
decay  of  builders'  energy  in  the  Midi  was  not  the  result  of 
the  Albigensian  Crusade,  since  Languedoc  erected  its  chief 
Gothic  churches  between  those  wars  and  the  Hundred  Years' 
War,  a  period,  moreover,  that  was  controlled  by  the  newly 
functioning  Inquisition.  To  generations  torn  by  anarchy,  the 
methods  of  that  tribunal,  hateful  though  they  appear  to  us, 
were  an  advance  in  jurisprudence.  Every  leader  of  the  day 
accepted  them  as  a  progress.  The  civil  courts  were  not  to 

2  "  Les  vainqueurs  mettent  a  sac  toutes  les  maisons  au  nombre  de  7000.  ...  Si 
rrouverent  en  la  ville  grant  avoir;  si  en  prisent  donquel  qu'ils  veurent  et  le  remanant 
ils  ardirent.  La  cut  grant  persecution  d'hommes,  de  femmes  et  d'enfans,  dont  ce 
fut  pitie." — FROISSART,  book  I,  chap.  Ixxvi. 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

be  able,  for  centuries  to  come,  to  offer  even  such  guaranty 
for  justice.  No  balanced  mind  can  read  the  lives  of  such 
chief  inquisitors  as,  for  instance,  St.  Raymond  of  Penafort,1 
and  fail  to  comprehend  that  past  history  is  not  to  be  read  in 
the  light  of  modern  prejudices. 

Rome  had  carried  on  a  hundred  years'  diplomatic  negoti- 
ation with  the  Midi  heretics.  Finally,  in  1208,  the  pope's 
legate  was  murdered  by  a  henchman  of  the  Count  of  Toulouse 
and  hostilities  were  precipitated.  Innocent  III  proclaimed  a 
crusade.  Later  he  regretted  its  excesses  just  as  he  had  cause 
to  deplore  the  divergence  of  the  Fourth  Crusade  to  filibustering 
purposes,  but  he  was  too  entirely  a  man  of  his  own  epoch  to 
regret  the  Albigensian  Crusade  itself.  By  1209  the  northern 
barons  had  invaded  Languedoc  and  many  a  building-bishop 
was  in  their  ranks. 

The  spirit  of  crusading  was  at  first  strong  enough  to  prevent 
their  attacking  the  rich  trading  city  of  Montpellier  which  lay 
in  their  path  but  which  was  singularly  free  of  heresy.  Yet 
their  very  next  step  was  a  sacrilege.  The  orthodox  population 
of  Beziers,  when  called  on  to  deliver  up  their  heretic  citizens, 
answered  they  would  sooner  see  themselves  sunk  in  the  deep 
sea.  It  would  seem  that  from  the  first  hour  many  Catholics 
of  the  Midi  looked  on  the  crusade  as  a  war  of  conquest  on  the 
part  of  the  barons  of  the  north.  Between  north  and  south 
was  deep-rooted  antipathy.  The  more  cultivated  but  more 
corrupted  Midi  scorned  the  rougher  peoples  beyond  their 
confines,  who  in  their  turn  despised  the  southerners.  Inevi- 
table was  it  that  a  clash  between  those  opposite  civilizations 
should  acquire  the  character  of  racial  hate. 

Simon  de  Montfort,  chosen  leader  of  the  crusaders  after 
the  sack  of  Beziers,  soon  overran  the  heretical  region,  where- 

1  Paul  Fournier,  St.  Raymond  de  Pennafort  (Collection,  Les  Saints),  (Paris,  Lecoffre). 

St.  Raymond's  life,  from  1175  to  1275,  covers  one  of  the  most  vital  centuries  in 
history.  He  helped  St.  Peter  Nolasco  found  the  Order  of  Mercy  to  redeem  Christian 
captives  from  Islam;  he  founded  chairs  for  the  study  of  Oriental  languages;  he  re- 
formed morals  by  his  preaching.  A  voluntary  teacher  of  philosophy  at  twenty,  then 
a  trained  lawyer,  it  was  not  till  he  was  touching  the  half-century  limit  that  he  entered 
the  Dominican  Order,  of  which  he  became  the  head.  For  fifty  more  years  he  gave 
himself  up  to  works  for  humanity's  advancement. 

369 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

upon  many  barons  of  the  north,  deeming  that  the  ethical 
purpose  of  the  Midi  excursion  was  accomplished,  returned  to 
their  homes.  Henceforth  the  racial  and  political  aspects  of 
the  struggle  were  accentuated.  Cruelty  and  perfidy  marked 
both  sides.  The  Midi  lords  boasted  that  no  crusader  escaped 
them  with  eyes,  fists,  or  feet,  and  they  cut  into  little  pieces 
the  nephew  of  Alberic  de  Humbert,  archbishop-builder  of 
Rheims  Cathedral.  In  retaliation  Simon  de  Montfort  cut  off 
heretics'  ears  and  noses. 

By  1212  word  was  sent  to  Innocent  III  that  hate  and 
cupidity,  as  much  as  zeal  for  the  Faith,  actuated  the  invaders, 
whereupon  the  pope  roundly  ordered  them  to  pass  into  Spain 
to  fight  Islam.  It  was  too  late  to  stem  the  tide.  In  1215, 
at  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council,  in  which  every  power  in 
Christendom,  lay  and  ecclesiastic,  had  a  voice,  Simon  de  Mont- 
fort's  retention  of  his  Midi  conquests  was  sanctioned.  Simon's 
death,  in  1218,  led  young  Raymond  VII  of  Toulouse  to  rise 
in  arms  and  the  wars  that  followed  were  frankly  political. 
In  1229  peace  was  signed  under  the  portal  of  Paris  Cathedral 
and  the  only  daughter  of  Raymond  VII  affianced  to  the 
brother  of  the  king  of  France. 

ALBI  CATHEDRAL1 

Laissons-nous  aller  de  bonne  foi  aux  choses  qui  nous  prennent  par  les 
entrailles  et  ne  cherchons  point  de  raisonnements  pour  nous  empecher  d'avoir 
du  plaisir. — MOLIERE. 

The  city  which  gave  its  name  to  the  terrible  episode  of  the 
XIII  century  lies  forty  miles  east  of  Toulouse.  The  local 
saying  is,  "Who  has  not  seen  the  cathedral  of  Albi  and  the 
tower  of  Rodez  has  seen  nothing."  Albi  Cathedral  yields 
to  none  in  its  gaunt  majesty.  It  stands  apart  in  one's  visions 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1863;  Jean  Laran,  La  cathedrale  d'Albi  (Collection, 
Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1911);  H.  Crozes,  Monographic  de  la 
cathedrale  de  Ste.  Cecile  d'Albi,  1873;  E.  d'Auriac,  Histoire  de  Vancienne  cathedrale  et  des 
eveques  d'Albi  (Paris,  1858);  Abbe  A.  Aurial,  "  La  voute  de  Ste-Cecile  d'Albi,"  in  Revue 
de  Vart  chretien,  1913,  p.  91;  Prosper  Merimee,  Notes  d'un  voyage  dans  le  Midi  de  la 
France  (1835) ;  B.  L.  de  Rivieres,  "  Les  eglises  d'Albi,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1873, 
vol.  39,  p.  194 ;  Taylor  et  Nodier,  Voyages  pittoresques  dans  Vancienne  France.  Languedoc 
(Paris,  Didot,  1833-37),  2  vols. 

370 


AIM  Cathedral  (1282-1399).     A  Midi  Fortress  Church 


GOTHIC   IN  THE   MIDI 

of  travel,  as  unique  a  memorial  of  past  history  as  the  Mount 
of  the  Archangel  off  the  coast  of  Normandy,  as  Vezelay 
looking  out  over  the  soft  valleys  of  Burgundy,  as  Le  Puy  on 
its  basaltic  pinnacles.  Never  was  a  monument  more  absolutely 
itself. 

Unfrequented  Albi  was  once  in  the  stir  of  life,  and  over  its 
stone  bridge,  built  nine  centuries  ago,  have  passed  the  notable 
folk  of  the  Middle  Ages  l  as  they  wended  their  way  to  Santiago 
Compostela,  whither  all  the  world  was  going  in  those  days. 
Time-scarred  houses  border  the  reddish  Tarn;  dark,  decayed 
streets  climb  the  hill.  At  a  curve  of  the  river,  bastions  and 
ramparts  rise  in  terraces  to  a  fortified  episcopal  palace  and—- 
crowning all — the  enormous  bulk  of  the  cathedral.  Its  long, 
stark  wall  strikes  the  sky  in  a  formidable  straight  line.  The 
west  fagade  is  a  massive  donjon,  four  hundred  feet  above 
the  Tarn.  No  welcoming  west  portals  here,  no  extended 
transept  arms  of  sacrificial  mercy,  no  soaring  buttress,  no 
leaping  pinnacles.  Not  the  lore  of  Christ,  "Do  as  you  would 
be  done  by,"  seems  to  have  inspired  Albi,  but  the  Hebraic 
spirit  of  breaking  one's  enemies'  bones,  as  if  the  Jehovah  of 
the  Old  Testament,  outraged  by  Albigensian  blasphemies, 
here  asserted  himself  in  a  temple  that  would  forever  be  a 
looming  menace  for  heretics. 

Albi's  forbidding  structure  rose  between  those  two  harsh 
epochs — the  Albigensian  Crusade  and  the  Hundred  Years' 
War.  Its  aggressive  mass  was  planned  by  a  most  aggressive 
churchman,  Bernard,  Cardinal  de  Castanets,  the  city's  learned 
bishop  detested  of  the  people  as  their  uncompromising  feudal 
master,  as  well  as  a  spiritual  chief  so  harsh  in  his  inquisitorial 
functions  that  a  pontifical  commission  was  appointed,  in 
1306,  to  repair  his  excesses.  In  1282  Bernard  de  Castanets 
laid  the  first  stone  of  Albi  Cathedral  and  for  twenty  years 
he  and  the  chapter  contributed  a  twentieth  of  their  revenues. 
The  church  was  finished  by  the  sixty-fifth  bishop,  Guillaume 
de  la  Voulte,  in  the  last  years  of  the  XIV  century. 

1  In  the  Romanesque  brick  church  of  St.  Salvi,  with  its  imposing  tower  and  XII- 
century  cloister,  St.  Bernard  preached  in  1145. 

371 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

To  approach  the  cathedral  at  its  apse  end  is  not  so  pictur- 
esque as  from  the  river  side,  but  it  is  formidable  enough.  The 
prodigious  apse  rises  abruptly,  imperiously,  from  the  town 
square.  One  fairly  shivers  beneath  its  Tolosan  brick  walls, 
overtowering  and  overpowering,  broken  merely  by  a  few 
narrow  windows — surely  the  narrowest  ever  made  in  a  Gothic 
church — and  by  uniform  bastion-tower  buttresses.  Gargoyles, 
of  as  alien  an  aspect  as  those  of  the  Jacobins'  at  Toulouse, 
crane  their  gaunt  necks  from  the  upper  walls,  as  if  asking 
what  manner  of  Gothic  this  is. 

Albi  Cathedral  is  the  meridional  interpretation  of  the 
national  art.  The  traditions  of  Rome  held  tenaciously  in 
southern  France,  where  builders  disliked  to  show  the  ma- 
chinery by  which  their  edifices  stood.  The  buttresses  at 
Albi  are  in  larger  part  hidden  within  the  church  under  the 
guise  of  walls  between  the  side  chapels.  The  flying  buttress 
is  uncommon  in  the  Midi.  Like  Rome  again,  with  her  prefer- 
ence for  an  unencumbered  floor  space,  Albi's  immense  interior 
is  unbroken  by  aisles.  The  vault's  diagonals  spring  over  a 
width  of  sixty  feet — a  span  unrivaled  by  any  in  the  north. 
Albi  Cathedral  is  a  vast  hall  three  hundred  feet  long,  one 
hundred  feet  high,  not  high  enough  for  its  length,  perhaps, 
but  few  will  regret  having  the  marvelous  frescoed  ceiling, 
"the  missal  of  St.  Cecilia,"  brought  nearer  to  the  eye. 

The  tutelary  of  this  fortress-church  is  the  gentle  patroness 
of  music.  Half  the  fascination  of  Albi  comes  from  its  con- 
vincing inconsistencies.  It  would  seem  that  not  Cecile — 
doubly  feminine  and  gracious  under  her  French  name — but 
Michael  Archangel  with  a  brandished  sword,  should  guard 
this  rugged  pile.  As  if  the  good  people  of  Albi  felt  the  incon- 
gruity, they  added,  long  after  Bishop  de  Castanets'  day,  a 
southern  portal  preceded  by  a  porch,  the  baldaquin,  with  all 
its  elaborate  Flamboyant  tracery  executed  in  a  creamy-white 
marble  in  which  surely  Cecile,  saint  though  she  was,  must 
have  felt  a  personal  satisfaction.  An  architect  of  genius  set 
that  marble  porch  of  Albi  against  its  red  time-dulled  walls, 
'alabaster  on  corall';  one  takes  liberties  with  Chaucer's  rime: 

372 


GOTHIC   IN  THE   MIDI 

And  southward  in  a  portal  on  the  wall 
Of  alabaster  white  on  red  corall 
An  oratorie  riche  for  to  see, 
In  honor  of  the  Roman  Cicily. 

To  ascend  to  the  marble  baldaquin  one  passes  under  a 
fortified  sculptured  gateway,  erected  by  the  Dominican 
bishop  of  Albi,  Dominique  de  Florence  (1392-1410).  The 
marble  portal  and  porch  were  executed  under  Bishop  Louis 
I  d'Amboise  (1472-1502)  and  his  successor,  Louis  II  d'Amboise 
(1502-11)  his  nephew,  belonging  to  an  enlightened  family  all 
of  whose  members  excelled  in  affairs,  war,  letters,  and  art, 
leaving  their  memorials  at  Chaumont  on  the  Loire,  their 
feudal  seat,  at  Cluny,  Paris,  Clermont,  Gaillon,  and  Rouen. 

Louis  I  d'Amboise  also  adorned  the  interior  of  his  cathedral 
by  the  sumptuous  screen  of  white  stone  that  surrounds  the 
choir,  leaving  a  passageway  between  it  and  the  side  chapels. 
The  rood-loft,  or  jube  (so  called  because  from  its  balcony  the 
clerk  chanted  Jube  Domine  dicere  before  the  gospel),  is 
sculptured  with  the  ermine  of  Anne  of  Brittany  and  the 
lilies  of  France,  being  made  about  1499,  when  Anne  wedded 
Louis  XII.  Bishop  Louis  at  Albi  was  brother  of  the  king's 
prime  minister,  Cardinal  Georges  d'Amboise. 

Originally  the  choir  screen  of  Albi  was  painted  in  colors. 
While  the  accessories  indicate  that  the  Italian  Renaissance 
was  obtaining  headway  in  France,  the  images  derive  from 
the  short,  overdraped  Franco-Flamand  figures  of  Dijon. 
Perhaps  the  stonecutters  who  made  Albi's  choir  wall  came 
direct  from  Cluny,  where  a  late-Gothic  chapel,  on  which  had 
worked  Abbot  Jacques  d'Amboise,  was  adorned  with  prophets 
and  apostles,  each  with  his  suitable  text.  On  the  inner  wall 
of  Albi's  choir  screen  are  sculptured  homely  but  charming 
little  angels,  and  the  twelve  apostles  holding  scrolls  inscribed 
with  phrases  of  the  Credo.  Old  Testament  personages,  who 
only  heralded  the  Messiah,  were  not  admitted  to  the  sanctum 
sanctorum;  the  vestibule  was  their  proper  place.  Prosper 
Merimee  called  Albi's  screen  "a  splendid  folly  before  which 
one  is  ashamed  to  be  wise."  Inside  and  out  it  is  exuberant, 

373 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

with  sculpture,  though  its  extravagant  caprices  do  not  stifle 
a  very  real  religious  feeling  in  the  images.  Such  a  profusion 
of  delicate  ornament  led  the  modern  critic  to  suspect  that 
the  choir  wall  was  modeled  in  cement,  not  chiseled  in  stone, 
but  when  a  Sorbonne  geologist  analyzed  the  substance  it  was 
found  to  be  a  fine-grained  white  stone  that  grows  harder 
with  time. 

Everywhere  in  St.  Cecilia's  cathedral  is  fragile  loveliness 
set  side  by  side,  as  an  afterthought,  with  stern  forcefulness. 
Bishop  Louis  II  d'Amboise  brought  from  Italy  a  group  of 
artists  to  paint  the  panels  of  Albi's  cyclopean  vaulting,  and 
the  work  accomplished  by  those  men  of  northern  Italy,  from 
1509  to  1512,  remains  the  most  splendid  color  decoration  of 
the  Middle  Ages  in  France.  Michael  Angelo  was  painting 
the  Sistine  Chapel  ceiling  in  those  same  years.  Languedoc 
produced  another  superb  array  of  color,  the  windows  of 
Auch  Cathedral,1  and  we  must  not  forget  that  the  greatest 
of  all  Renaissance  glass  workers,  the  friar  who  filled  Arezzo 
with  glory,  was  a  Midi  Frenchman. 

Amid  Albi's  arabesques  the  artists  from  Bologna  and  Modena 
inscribed  their  names,  and  some  young  lovers  wrote  "Antonia, 
mia  bella,"  and  "Lucrezia  Cantora,  bolognesa."  The  frescoes 
give  the  genealogy  of  Christ.  They  recall  Perugino,  Francia, 
and  Pintoriccio.  Never  was  blue  background  more  mar- 
velous— a  strong  rare  hue  neither  indigo  nor  Prussian  nor 


1  The  cathedral  of  Auch,  which  can  be  visited  from  Toulouse,  was  rebuilt  (1371) 
by  a  nephew  of  Innocent  VI,  and  again,  after  a  fire  in  1483.  It  is  quite  devoid  of 
capitals.  The  facade  is  neo-classic.  The  choir  stalls  (1520-29)  are  masterpieces; 
Italianate  fawns  and  Bacchantes  are  placed  beside  sacred  personages.  The  mag- 
nificent windows,  of  the  transition  between  Flamboyant  Gothic  and  Renaissance, 
were  the  work  of  Arnaud  de  Moles  (1507-13) ;  their  portrait  studies  are  like  Holbein's 
pictures.  Abbe  Caneto,  Notice  sur  Veglise  metro,  de  Ste.  Marie  d 'Auch  and  Congres 
Archeologique,  1901. 

The  cathedral  of  Rodez,  some  fifty  miles  west  from  Albi,  built  its  grand  Flam- 
boyant tower,  la  couronne,  from  1510  to  1526,  under  the  Blessed  Francois  d'Estaing. 
The  Romanesque  cathedral  at  Rodez  was  supplanted  by  the  present  one  in  1277. 
The  works  flagged,  however,  and  the  nave  was  built  as  late-Gothic  by  Bishop  Guill- 
aume  de  la  Tour  d'Oliergues  and  a  nephew  who  succeeded  him.  The  west  fagade 
was  left  bare,  since  there  the  church  overlooked  the  ramparts;  to  it  were  added  later 
a  rose  window  and  a  Flamboyant  gallery.  G.  de  Cogny,  in  Bulletin  Monumental, 
1874,  vol.  39;  Bion  de  Marlavagne,  CathMrale  de  Rodez  (Paris,  1875). 

374 


GOTHIC   IN  THE   MIDI 

peacock,  but  a  blending  of  them  all  in  a  cerulean  depth  of 
color — an  art  as  entirely  lost  to  posterity  as  the  blue  back- 
ground of  Suger's  windows.  Chemical  analysis  has  busied 
itself  with  Albi's  frescoes,  too;  but  though  the  blue  color  of 
the  vault  panels  was  found  to  be  obtained  from  the  precipi- 
tation of  salts  of  copper  by  carbonate  of  potassium,  how  to 
produce  a  similar  hue  to-day  remains  unsolved.  Over  the 
blue  background  wind  lovely  arabesques,  and  the  saints 
portrayed  are  stately  Italians  of  the  Renaissance.  The 
diagonals  and  transverse  arches  are  colored  in  old-gold.  On 
the  western  wall  of  the  church  a  XV-century  fresco  was  painted 
directly  on  the  bricks,  a  Last  Judgment  copied  from  popular 
woodcuts  of  the  day,  with  the  punishments  of  the  seven 
deadly  sins  pitilessly  set  forth.  The  painting  was  ruthlessly 
cut  into  when  a  chapel  was  introduced  under  the  western 
tower.  The  side  chapels  of  Ste.  Cecile  are  illuminated  in 
gold  and  color  like  a  Book  of  Hours.  Never  was  there  a 
church  of  such  contrasts:  within — a  shrine  of  warm,  polished, 
over-splendid  beauty,  and  without — the  most  rugged  feudal 
challenge  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

CARCASSONNE  l 

It  is  the  first  sharp  vision  of  an  unknown  town,  the  first  immediate  vision 
of  a  range  of  hills,  that  remains  forever,  and  is  fruitful  of  joy  within  the 
mind  .  .  .  that  is  perhaps  the  chief  of  the  fruits  of  travel. — HILAIRE  BELLOC. 

The  Cite  of  Carcassonne  was  long  one  of  the  most  formi- 
dable fortresses  of  Europe,  covering  the  route  from  ocean  to 
sea  and  guarding  a  pass  into  Spain.  These  Pyrenean  provinces 
of  France  gave  Joffre  and  Foch  to  the  World  War.  The 
lower  walls  of  the  Cite  were  of  Rome's  building;  above  came 
the  Visigothic  defenses;  then  St.  Louis  extended  the  fortifi- 
cations and  his  son  completed  them. 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1868;  and  1906,  J.  de  Lahondes;  Viollet-le-Duc,  La  cite 
de  Carcassonne  (Paris,  1858);  H.  Graillot,  Toulouse  et  Carcassonne  (Collection,  Villcs 
d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  L.  Fedie,  Histoire  de  Carcassonne  (Carcassonne, 
1887);  C.  Douais,  Soumission  de  la  vicomte  de  Carcassonne  par  Simon  de  Montfort; 
Cros-Meyrevieille,  Histoire  des  comtes  de  Carcassonne  (1845),  2  vols.;  Gaston  Jourdanne, 
La  cite  de  Carcassonne  (1905). 

375 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Within  its  double  belt  of  walls  and  half  a  hundred  towers 
is  the  precious  little  church  of  St.  Nazaire,  once  of  cathedral 
rank.  Its  western  front  was  never  opened  by  a  portal  because 
it  stood  near  what  were  long  the  outer  ramparts.  The  Roman- 
esque nave  is  small  and  dark,  without  triforium  or  clearstory, 
and  with  high  aisles  that  buttress  the  tunnel  vault  of  the 
principal  span,  whose  transverse  ribs  are  slightly  pointed. 
Piers  and  columns  alternate.  The  materials  to  build  this 
early  church  were  blessed  by  Urban  II  in  1096  in  the  same 
month  that  he  dedicated  the  new  choir  of  St.  Sernin  at 
Toulouse.  St.  Nazaire  was  an  entirely  Romanesque  church 
when  Simon  de  Montfort  ruled  the  Cite  for  ten  years.  In 
this  church  St.  Dominic  married  Amaury  de  Montfort  to  a 
princess  of  Dauphiny.  St.  Dominic  had  held  a  public  con- 
troversy of  eight  days  with  the  heretics  of  Carcassonne  in 
1205,  before  the  coming  of  the  northern  barons,  and  in  St. 
Nazaire  he  preached  the  Lent  of  1213.  Simon  de  Montfort 
was  buried  temporarily  in  St.  Nazaire,  and  there  exists  in  a 
nave  chapel  a  sculptured  stone  which  some  have  thought 
to  be  part  of  his  sepulcher,  but  which  is  more  probably  from 
the  tomb  of  a  brother  of  Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse,  who, 
having  sympathized  with  the  northern  barons,  was  slain  in 
consequence.  The  curious  stone  shows  the  engines  of  war 
described  in  the  Chanson  de  la  Croisade,  and  the  costumes  of 
that  period. 

Under  Bishop  Radulph  (1255-66),  who  built  the  Gothic 
chapel  beside  the  south  arm  of  the  transept,  permission  was 
obtained  to  replace  the  ancient  transept  and  choir  by  a  new 
one.  Bishop  Radulph  won  forgiveness  for  those  citizens  of 
Carcassonne  who  were  expelled  from  the  fortress  in  1262, 
because  they  had  conspired  against  the  crown  with  one  of 
the  Trencavel  dynasty,  their  old  rulers,  and  the  builders  of 
the  Cite's  chateau.  Louis  IX,  who  governed  Carcassonne 
through  a  seneschal,  allowed  the  exiles  to  start  the  present 
town  of  Carcassonne  beyond  the  river,  in  the  plain  below  the 
citadel. 

The  erection  of  the  Gothic  half  of  St.  Nazaire  took  place 

376 


GOTHIC   IN  THE  MIDI 

under  Bishop  Pierre  de  Roquefort  (d.  1321)  during  the  first 
twenty  years  of  the  XIV  century.  To  him  we  owe  the  radiant 
glass  lantern  which  is  St.  Nazaire's  transept  and  choir,  a 
structure  that  is  really  a  big  transept  with  seven  chapels, 
equally  high,  along  its  eastern  wall,  the  central  of  which 
chapels,  and  the  longest,  serving  as  choir.  The  windows  in 
the  chapels  rise  to  the  roof,  and  are  filled  with  clear  and 
brilliant  glass  ranked  with  the  best  of  the  XIV  century; 
those  in  the  first  two  chapels  excel  the  others.  Two  windows 
show  the  arms  of  Pierre  de  Roquefort.  St.  Nazaire  was 
one  of  the  last  to  use  the  legend-medallion  type  of  window; 
henceforth,  in  each  panel,  a  single  figure  was  placed  in  an 
architectural  setting. 

The  seven  eastern  chapels  of  the  transept  open  one  on  the 
other  above  a  low  dividing  wall,  and  standing  out  from  those 
walls,  so  that  a  narrow  passage  is  made  between  them  and 
the  transept,  are  detached  piers  that  rise  powerfully  from 
pavement  to  vault-springing.  Above  their  capitals  the 
molds  die  away  in  the  column — a  very  early  use  of  a  Flam- 
boyant characteristic.  The  two  pillars  flanking  the  entrance 
to  the  choir  are  decorated,  midway  up,  with  statues  under 
canopies  sculptured  by  northern  artists  before  1320. 

Archaeologists  declare  that  the  Gothic  part  of  the  Cite's 
ancient  cathedral  are  the  perfection  of  XlV-century  con- 
struction, elastic  in  every  part,  each  part  fulfilling  its  own 
separate  function.  The  ogival  principle  could  not  be  carried 
farther.  It  is  thought  that  some  architect  of  the  north  made 
the  plan,  which  local  masons  executed.  The  only  Midi  trait 
is  the  flat,  tiled  roof. 

Modern  restoration  has  overhauled  the  citadel  of  Car- 
cassonne too  radically.  Imperiously  set  though  it  is,  does  it 
grip  the  imagination  as  entirely  as  Aigues-Mortes,  lying  flat 
on  marsh  lands,  its  time-stained  walls  untouched?  Often 
in  France  one  echoes  Pius  IX's  response  to  Baron  de  Croze, 
who  proposed  the  restoration  of  the  Coliseum:  "Dear  Son, 
I  have  read  your  memoir  and  I  thank  you  for  it;  but  do  you 
not  know  that  there  are  two  sorts  of  vandalism,  one  which 

377 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

consists  in  destroying,  the  other  in  restoring?  Never  has 
the  Coliseum  been  so  beautiful  as  in  its  moving  contrast  of 
past  splendor  and  magnificent  present  decay.  To  restore  it 
is  to  annihilate  the  work  of  centuries,  to  recompose  an  ordinary 
pastiche  with  no  eclat." 

Not  that  Carcassonne,  as  redressed  by  M.  Viollet-le-Duc, 
is  deficient  in  eclat;  it  has  too  much  of  it.  It  is  a  vision  of  a 
feudal  fortress  too  carefully  prepared,  too  deliberately  made 
ready  for  the  tourist. 

In  the  lower  town  are  the  typically  meridional  churches 
of  St.  Michel,  the  actual  cathedral  of  Carcassonne,  and  St. 
Vincent  whose  aisleless  hall  is  the  widest  in  the  Midi — a  span 
of  sixty-eight  feet.  Even  when  using  diagonals,  the  south 
kept  true  to  its  favorite  Romanesque  traditions.  Neither 
church  has  a  triforium,  the  apse  windows  are  long  and  narrow, 
over  the  entrance  of  each  chapel  is  an  eight-lobed  rose,  and 
the  buttresses  are  disguised  as  walls  between  the  side  chapels. 
The  tracery  is  Rayonnant.  St.  Vincent  was  built  after  the 
Black  Prince  burned  Carcassonne  in  1355.  At  its  sculptured 
portal  was  placed  a  statue  of  the  newly  canonized  saint-king, 
Louis  IX,  under  whom  this  modern  Carcassonne  was  founded. 

NARBONNE  CATHEDRAL  1 

Que  chaque  homme  console  un  homme, 
Fasse  un  bien,  donne  une  pitie, 
Ne  t'occupe  pas  de  la  somme: 
Ce  pain  sera  multiplied 

— JEAN  AICARD  (born  in  the  Midi,  1848). 

At  Narbonne  one  is  at  the  very  heart  of  the  Midi.  It  is  an 
ancient  mother  city  of  Europe,  a  capital  of  Celtic  Gaul. 

1  Louis  Serbat,  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1868  and  1906;  L.  Narbonne,  La  cathedrale- 
de  Narbonne,  1901;  Victor  Mortet,  "  Notes  historiques  et  archeologiques  sur  la  cathe; 
drale  de  Narbonne,"  in  Annales  du  Midi,  vol.  10,  p.  401;  vol.  11,  pp.  273  and  439- 
also  printed  separately  (Toulouse,  Privat,  and  Paris,  Picard,  1899);  F.  Pradel,  Mono, 
graphic  de  Veglise  St.  Juste  de  Narbonne  (Narbonne,  Caillard,  1884);  Ch.  Lentheric 
Les  villes  mortes  du  Golfe  de  Lyon:  Narbonne,  Maguelonne,  Aigues-Mortes,  Aries,  Les 
Saintes-Maries  (Paris,  Plon,  1883);  "  Ecole  gothique  religieuse  du  Midi  de  la  France," 
in  Positions  des  theses  soutenues  par  les  elevcs  de  I' E  cole  des  chartes  en  1909;  Histoire 
litteraire  de  la  France,  vol.  32,  p.  474,  on  Gilles  Aycelin,  archbishop  of  Narbonne  and 
Rouen,  Leopold  Delisle. 

378 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

Surpassed  by  nothing  in  the  Roman  world,  Narbonne  kept 
its  pre-eminence  under  both  pagan  and  Christian  Rome.  It 
became  the  seat  of  the  Visigothic  royal  line,  and  of  their 
Moorish  conquerors.  Charlemagne  made  it  a  fortified  out- 
post, and  during  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  the  richest  of  trading 
centers,  a  third  of  whose  population  was  Jewish.  In  1311, 
the  same  covetous  king  who  abolished  the  Templars  banished 
the  Jews,  to  whom  Charlemagne  had  given  the  freedom  of 
this  town  for  their  support  of  his  cause  against  Islam.  To-day 
one  walks  its  dust-white  streets  with  a  strange  sensation  of 
loneliness.  Narbonne  is  a  dead  city. 

When  in  the  latter  part  of  the  XIII  century  the  great 
Gothic  cathedral  of  St.  Just  was  begun,  there  seemed  no 
reason  why  so  flourishing  a  trading  center  could  not  succeed 
in  the  enterprise.  Unlike  Beauvais,  where  the  chief  church 
was  from  its  inception  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  population, 
Narbonne  could  easily  have  erected  a  nave  to  complete  its 
mighty  choir.  In  1272  was  laid  the  first  stone  of  St.  Just 
Cathedra,!.1  Then  there  occurred  here  what  happens  to  all 
rivers  that  communicate  with  the  sea  by  means  of  lagoons: 
gradually  the  salt  lakes  silt  up  till  they  become  marshes 
through  which  the  river  winds  tortuously  till  suddenly  it 
breaks  a  new  path  to  the  sea.  In  1320  occurred  this  catas- 
trophe for  Narbonne.  The  Roman  dike  gave  way  and  the 
river  Aude  left  its  ancient  bed,  quitting  Narbonne  to  flow 
toward  Courson,  where  it  still  is.  The  stagnant  waters  bred 
disease,  and  the  metropolis,  greeted  by  Sidonius  Apollinaris 
for  its  salubrity,  Salve  Narbo,  potens  salubritate,  became  a 

1  For  the  other  churches  at  Narbonne,  see  the  Congrcs  Archeologique,  1906.  M. 
Lefevre-Pontalis  devotes  a  study  to  St.  Paul.  Serge  (p.  345),  whose  choir  was  built 
from  1229  to  1244.  In  the  transept  are  vestiges  of  the  primitive  church.  Two  bays 
of  the  nave  are  of  the  XIV  century,  and  the  others  are  XH-century  work  redone  in 
the  XIII.  To  bind  together  the  bulging  walls,  flat  arches  were  thrown  over  the 
central  vessel  at  the  level  of  the  pier  arches.  The  church  presents  such  peculiarities 
in  the  Midi  as  circulation  passages  at  different  levels  round  the  edi6ce.  There  are 
false  tribune  arches,  and  over  the  pier  arcade  a  passageway  is  maneuvered.  Sergius 
Paulus  was  the  first  to  preach  Christianity  in  the  city.  In  Narbonne's  valuable 
Museum  are  classic  vestiges  of  the  city's  great  day  under  the  Roman  Empire.  Many 
of  the  classic  marble  columns  are  to-day  in  the  mosque  at  Cordova.  Ch.  E.  Schmidt, 
Cordoue,  Grenade  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens). 

379 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

pestilential  site.  Narbonne  sank  into  silent  decay.  Over 
the  shrunken  city  stands  the  ghostly  fragment  of  the  great 
cathedral,  surpassed  in  height  only  by  Beauvais  and  Amiens. 

St.  Just  was  begun  in  1272,  and  three  years  later  the  cathe- 
dral of  Toulouse  was  started  on  a  plan  and  with  profiles  so 
closely  resembling  Narbonne's  chief  church  that  one  master 
may  have  designed  both.  Both  derive  immediately  from 
those  northern  Gothic  churches  translated  with  a  meridional 
accent,  the  cathedrals  of  Clermont,  whose  choir  was  finished 
in  1265,  and  of  Limoges,  begun  in  1273. 

The  Midi  shows  in  Narbonne  Cathedral  in  the  simplified 
triforium  which  is  framed  by  wall  spaces,  as  are  the  clearstory 
windows,  in  the  extremely  high  pier  arcades,  and  in  the  stout 
buttresses  that  are  disguised  as  dividing  walls  between  the 
side  chapels.  The  capitals  are  mere  uncarved  bands,  and 
over  them  certain  molds  die  away  in  the  pier.  M.  Anthyme 
Saint-Paul's  theory  was  that  even  in  the  XIII  century  began 
the  evolution  which  was  to  end  in  Flamboyant  Gothic.  He 
pointed  out,  in  Narbonne's  chapels,  windows  with  Rayonnant 
tracery  side  by  side  with  flamelike  undulations.  M.  Enlart 
thinks  we  cannot  be  sure  that  they  were  done  at  the  same 
time.  An  unusual  and  graceful  aspect  was  achieved  in  the 
choir's  northern  aisle  by  the  setting  of  piers  beyond  the 
dividing  walls  of  the  chapels,  making  a  kind  of  double  aisle 
like  that  in  the  transept  of  St.  Nazaire  at  Carcassonne. 

An  architect  named  Henri  is  cited  as  master-of-works  at 
Gerona  Cathedral  whose  chevet,  begun  after  1312,  resembles 
that  of  St.  Just.  Henri  was  a  name  uncommon  in  the  Midi. 
It  is  thought  that  he  was  the  original  architect  of  Narbonne. 
His  successor  at  Gerona,  Jacques  de  Favari  or  Favers,  a  name 
of  the  central,  plateau  of  France,  is  known  to  have  directed 
the  works  of  Narbonne's  chief  church.  Catalonia,  Aragon, 
and  Languedoc  were  allied  in  architecture  as  in  tongue. 
Poblet  in  Catalonia  is  directly  the  daughter  of  the  abbey  at 
Fontfroide,  six  miles  from  Narbonne.1  The  Gothic  influence 

1  The  Cistercian  abbey  of  Fontfrpide  lies  in  a  wild  gorge  some  six  miles  from  Nyr- 
bonne.  The  church,  begun  in  the  middle  of  the  XII  century,  was  roofed  with  a 

380 


GOTHIC   IN  THE   MIDI 

of  Narbonne  spread  to  the  isles  in  the  Mediterranean,  to 
southern  Italy  and  Cyprus. 

Archbishop  Maurin  began  Narbonne  Cathedral  after  the 
tragic  crusade  of  St.  Louis  in  1270.  He  had  vowed  that  if 
ever  again  he  saw  the  fair  land  of  France  he  would  offer 
thanksgiving  by  rebuilding  his  church.  The  corner  stone  and 
relics  were  sent  by  Pope  Clement  IV,  originally  a  lawyer  at 
St.  Gilles,  and  then  archbishop  of  Narbonne,  whose  crumbling 
cathedral  of  Charlemagne's  time  he  had  purposed  to  replace 
by  a  Gothic  one,  when  his  translation  to  the  papacy  intervened. 

The  apse  chapels  were  built  first.  The  main  parts  of  the 
choir  are  the  work  of  Archbishop  Gilles  Aycelin  de  Montaigu, 
(1292-1311),  a  noble  of  Auvergne,  brother  of  the  bishop 
who  was  building  Clermont  Cathedral  and  who  had  himself 
been  a  canon  at  Clermont.  He  also  began  the  cloister,  and 
to  his  own  residence  added  a  donjon  tower.  It  is  thought 
that  the  episcopal  palace  at  Narbonne  served  as  prototype 
for  the  palace  of  the  popes  at  Avignon.  In  modern  times, 
between  its  ancient  towers  a  town  hall  has  been  constructed. 
In  1311  Gilles  Aycelin  was  transferred  to  the  see  of  Rouen, 
and  Rouen's  archbishop,  Bernard  de  Farges  (d.  1341),  a 
nephew  of  the  pope  who  built  the  choir  of  Bordeaux  Ca- 
thedral, took  his  place  at  Narbonne,  where  he  completed  the 
giant  choir.  Services  were  held  in  it  in  1320. 

The  truncated  western  end  of  the  cathedral  is  a  depressing 
sight.  Work  stopped  after  the  completion  of  the  east  wall  of 

pointed  cradle  vault.  The  cloister,  like  that  at  Tarragona,  was  covered  with  bombe 
vaults  on  eight  ribs.  Little  marble  columns  support  the  Gothic  masonry  roof  of  the 
chapter  house,  which,  like  Poblet's,  opens  by  arcades  on  the  cloister.  Twelve  monks 
from  Fontfroide  founded  Poblet  in  1150.  The  countess  who  ruled  Narbonne  for 
sixty  years  confirmed  the  abbey  charter  in  1157:  "  I,  Ermengarde,  give  to  God  and 
the  Blessed  Mary,  to  Abbot  Vital  and  the  present  and  future  servants  of  God,  the 
lands  of  Fontfroide,"  runs  her  deed  of  gift.  Doubly  is  a  nation  robbed  when  monastic 
lands  are  held  by  private  individuals  who  assume  no  responsibility  toward  the  public, 
as  did  a  majority  of  the  ancient  houses,  before  royalty  named  its  favorites  as  their 
abbots.  Even  as  vast  tracts  were  granted  to  nobles  that  they  might  perform  gratis 
the  military  defense  of  a  land,  so  monasteries  were  expected  to  give  payment  for  their 
domains,  by  voluntary  services  to  civilization.  J.  de  Lahondes,  in  Congres  Archeo- 
logique,  190(5,  p.  61;  Calvert,  Etudes  historiqucs  sur  Fontfroide  (1875);  G.  Desdevises 
du  Dezert,  Barcelone  et  les  grands  sanctuaires  d'art  Catalan  (Collection,  Villes  d'art 
celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens). 

381 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  transept,  whose  window  apertures  had  later  to  be  filled  in; 
by  the  XV  century  all  hope  of  completing  the  church  was 
abandoned,  and  two  west  towers  were  raised.  In  the  XVIII 
century  the  plan  to  build  a  nave  was  revived  and  part  of  the 
city  ramparts  were  thrown  down  to  allow  for  its  extension.  One 
bay  of  the  proposed  structure  was  begun  in  bastard  Gothic,  and 
then  the  enterprise  collapsed.  The  present  entrance  is  through 
a  door  contrived  in  one  of  the  apse  chapels.  The  exterior  of 
that  apse  was  fortified.  From  one  turreted  buttress  pile  to  the 
other  was  maneuvered  a  crenelated  gallery,  and  originally  the 
passage  communicated  with  the  bishop's  palace. 

Although  sadly  needing  a  nave,  Narbonne's  choir  is  a 
proud  and  noble  vessel.  Critics  have  called  it  a  work  of 
mechanical  skill  more  than  of  imagination.  Its  science  is 
beyond  cavil,  each  thrust  being  exactly  counterbutted.  Profiles, 
however  are  angular  and  there  is  a  painful  lack  of  sculpture. 
If,  technically,  Narbonne's  chief  church  is  somewhat  hard 
and  dry,  it  has  retained  sufficient  of  the  emotional  quality  of 
Gothic,  what  has  been  called  its  sursum  corda,  to  belong  to 
the  grand  tradition  of  the  national  art.  Moreover,  one  can 
kneel  reverentially  on  the  very  steps  of  the  altar  instead  of 
being  kept  at  a  stately  distance.  In  the  clearstory  are  the 
loveliest  XlV-century  windows  in  France,  like  rare-toned 
etchings  or  delicate  spider-web,  time-stained  lace.  As  there 
is  color  in  them,  it  is  inexact  to  call  such  windows  grisaille, 
but  the  subdued  note  of  grisaille  glass  predominates. 

Between  Narbonne  and  Spain  lies  Perpignan's  XlV-century  1 

1  Perpignan's  aisleless  cathedral  of  St.  Jean  was  begun  in  1324  and  finished,  as  the 
century  ended,  under  the  kings  of  Majorca,  who  then  ruled  the  Roussillon.  The  tran- 
sept ends  are  apsidal  below  and  pentagonal  above.  Beside  it  stands  an  older  St. 
Jean,  dedicated  in  1025.  The  see  originally  was  at  Elne,  where  the  cathedral  was 
rebuilt  in  the  XI  century;  lotus  leaves  are  carved  on  the  capitals  of  its  lovely  marble 
cloister  (c.  1175).  Congres  Archeologique,  1868;  and  1906,  p.  109,  Perpignan;  p.  135, 
Elne;  E.  de  Barthelemy,  "  Le  cloitre  de  la  ville  d'EIne,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental, 
1857,  vol.  23;  Bernard  Palustre,  "  Perpignan  et  ses  monuments,"  in  Revue  d'hist.  et 
d'archeol^du  Roussillon,  1905;  Auguste  Brutails,  "  Notes  sur  1'art  religieux  du  Rous- 
sillon," in  Bulletin  archeol.  du  comite  des  traveaux  hist,  et  scientifique,  1892,  No.  4; 
1893,  No.  3;  P.  Vidal,  Histoire  de  la  mile  de  Perpignan  (Paris,  1897);  P.  Vidal  et  J. 
Calmette,  Le  Roussillon  (Collection,  Les  regions  de  la  France),  (Paris,  L.  Cerf,  1909); 
J.  de  Gazanyola,  Histoire  de  Roussillon  (Perpignan,  Alzine,  1857);  Isabel  Savory, 
Romantic  Roussillon  (London,  Unwin,  1919). 

382 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

cathedral,  and  Elne's  cloister,  called  a  work  of  supreme  elegance 
by  the  critical  Prosper  Merimee,  and  to  the  east  at  Beziers  is  a 
fortified  cathedral  with  massive  towers,  begun  in  1215  and 
building  through  the  XIV  century;  it  has  good  stained  glass 
of  this  latter  period. 

One's  interest  in  Beziers  centers  in  the  terrible  massacre  of 
1209,  the  opening  act  of  the  Albigensian  Crusade.  Not  that 
the  mere  sacking  of  a  city  would  have  roused  such  horror. 
In  the  course  of  its  history  eight  massacres  had  occurred  in 
Beziers.  It  was  a  day  when  such  acts  were  the  accepted 
methods  of  warfare  and  the  northern  leaders  had  discussed 
whether  it  were  not  good  tactics  to  start  their  campaign  by 
terrorization.  It  was  the  slaughtering  of  the  citizens  in  the 
churches  to  which  they  had  fled  for  sanctuary  that  violated 
the  general  standards. 

Witnesses  of  the  sacking  of  Beziers  say  that  while  the 
chiefs  of  the  besieging  army  were  considering  how  to  spare 
those  in  the  city  who  were  not  Albigensian,  an  assault  was 
started  through  the  skirmish  of  lawless  hangers-on  of  the 
crusading  army  and  a  few  townspeople.  In  the  confusion 
that  followed,  the  northern  knights  rushed  to  arms  and  the 
city  was  captured.  A  XX-century  wrecking  of  the  Louvain- 
Dinant-Termonde  type  followed,  and  some  twenty  thousand 
perished. 

Modern  scholars  doubt  that  the  famous  Tuez-les-tous 
remark,  attributed  to  Abbot  Arnaud  of  Citeaux,  who  died 
archbishop  of  Narbonne,  was  ever  uttered.  He  is  accused  of 
saying,  "Kill  them  all,  God  will  know  his  own,"  when  asked 
how  the  orthodox  were  to  be  told  from  the  heretics.  No 
contemporary  chronicle  mentions  it  and  Albigensian  historians 
would  certainly  have  flung  such  words  at  the  crusaders; 
equally  would  an  ardent  admirer  of  Simon  de  Montfort,  who 
wrote  his  Gestes,  have  lauded  the  sentiment,  if  one  is  to  judge 
by  other  happenings  he  thought  praiseworthy.  Neither 
enemy  nor  friend  mentions  the  Tuez-les-tous  phrase.  It  first 
occurs  in  the  history  of  a  German  monk  at  Bonn,  long  after 
the  Midi  crusade,  and  the  pages  of  that  chronicler  are  so 

383 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

filled  with  discredited  assertions  that  little  he  says  should  be 
taken  seriously. 

MONTPELLIER  AND  MAGUELONNE » 

The  tocsin  sounded  its  lamentable  notes  of  alarm  over  all  the  land  of 
France.  Fire?  No.  War.  The  voice  of  the  bells  long  condemned  to 
silence  by  the  authorities  suddenly  rang  out  everywhere.  From  the  high 
belfries  spread  the  warning,  and  no  one  worried  now  to  refuse  to  God,  to 
the  Inexplicable,  the  right  of  speech.  From  God's  house  alone  came  to 
France,  waiting  in  tense  agony,  the  announcement  of  the  most  terrible  catas- 
trophe that  ever  fell  like  an  avalanche  on  humanity.  Sunrise  to  sunset 
from  east  to  west,  from  north  to  south  rang  out  the  coming  of  War,  the 
world's  misery. — JEAN  AICABD,  on  how  the  World  War  opened  in  the  Midi.2 

In  Montpellier  is  a  stately  terrace  called  the  Peyrou,  built 
in  the  artificial,  distinguished  style  of  Louis  XIV,  from  which 
one  looks  out  on  a  most  lovely  landscape  of  Midi  fertility.3 
Here  Mistral  in  1878  read  his  vibrant  ode  to  the  Latin  race, 
la  race  lumineuse,  la  race  apostolique,  and  a  generation  later 
the  people  gathered  here  to  listen  to  the  belfries  far  and  near 
ring  out  over  that  peaceful  Claude  Lorraine  scene  the  hour 
of  unity  in  battle  array,  for  all  Frenchmen — Latin  and  Celt 
and  Frank.  No  longer  a  Midi  and  a  North.  The  time  was 
past  for  race  hate  or  conquest  to  pose  as  a  crusade.  The  time 
had  come  to  end  the  silencing  of  Christian  steeples  under  the 

1  Eugene  Miintz,  Les  constructions  du  pope  Urbain  V  a  Montpellier,  1364-70  (Paris, 
1900) ;    Jean  Guiraud,  Les  fondations  du  pape  Urbain  V  a  Montpellier  (Montpellier, 
1899),  3  vols.;   G.  E.  Lefenestre,  Le  musee  de  Montpellier  (vol.  1,  p.  189,  "Inventaire 
des  richesses  d'art  de  la  France:  ministere  de  1'instruction  publique"),   (Paris,   1878); 
Emile  Bonnet,  Antiquites  et  monuments  du  departement  de  l'H6rault   (Montpellier, 
1908);  Abbe  M.  Chaillon,  Le  bienheureux  Urbain  V,  1310-70  (Collection,  Les  Saints), 
(Paris,  Lecoffre,   1911);    A  Germain,  Maguelonne,  etude  historique  et  archeologique; 
A  Fabrege,  Histoire  de  Maguelonne  (Montpellier,  1900),  2  vols. 

2  Jean  Aicard,  Arlette  des  Mayons  (Paris,  Flammarion,  1916). 

3  To  the  northwest  of  Montpellier,  near  Aniane,  is  St.  Guilhem-le-Desert,  with 
blind  niches  in  its  exterior  apse  wall  that  derive  from  such  Lombard  churches  as  S. 
Ambrogio  at  Milan.     Lombard  towers,  arched  corbel  tables,   and  mural   arcaded 
bands  passed  from  northern  Italy  into  Languedoc.     The  early  intersecting  ribs  here 
were  exceptional  for  the  Midi  in  being  profiled.     The  nave  and  aisles  are  of  the  first 
half  of  the  XI  century,  the  chevet  and  transept  of  the  early  XII,  as  is  the  cloister, 
which  once  had  a  second  story.     The  narthex  was  built  from  1165  to  1199.     The 
first  duke  of  Aquitaine,  Alienor's  ancestor,  died  here,  a  monk.     Congres  Archeologique, 
1906,  p.  384;   "L'eglise  abbatiale  de  St.  Guilhem-le-Desert,"  Emile  Bonnet;   Joseph 
Bedier,  Les  legendes  epiques,  vol.  1,  "  St.  Guillaume  de  Gellone  "  (Paris,  H.  Champion, 
1908-13),  4  vols. 

384 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

guise  of  freedom.  As  one  man,  Midi  and  North  sprang  up  in 
answer  to  the  tocsin  of  August,  1914. 

What  to-day  is  the  cathedral  of  Montpellier  was  built  from 
1364  to  1367  as  a  monastery  church,  so  that  it  hardly  falls 
within  our  scope.  But  if  architecturally  the  city  of  Montpellier 
is  of  lesser  importance,  it  has  been  for  long  centuries  the 
intellectual  stronghold  of  the  Midi,  and  we  know  that  ca- 
thedrals are  built  with  more  than  stones.  Montpellier's 
school  of  medicine  was  famous  in  the  XII  century.  The  city  was 
free  of  Albigensian  taint;  no  trading  town  was  more  flourish- 
ing during  the  XIII  century.  At  the  hour  that  the  northern 
barons  invaded  the  Midi,  the  heiress  of  Montpellier,  whom 
the  king  of  Aragon  married  for  her  dowry  and  immediately 
deserted,  gave  birth  to  one  who  was  to  build  more  churches 
than  any  monarch  in  Christendom.  Twelve  candles  were 
set  up  in  the  chief  church  of  Montpellier,  each  with  the  name 
of  an  apostle,  and  when  the  candle  called  James  burned  the 
longest  the  child  was  named  Jaime.  An  inscription  on  the  Tour 
du  Pin,  a  vestage  of  the  city  ramparts  that  originally  had 
twenty -five  such  towers,  records  the  birth  of  Jaime  el  Conquis- 
tador, the  scourge  of  Islam,  the  conqueror  of  Valencia  and  the 
Balearic  Islands,  and  the  builder  of  six  thousand  churches. 
His  father  was  one  of  the  victors  of  Las  Navas  de  Tolosa,  in 
1212,  where  a  vital  blow  was  struck  at  Moorish  domination 
in  Spain;  yet  he  was  killed  in  the  very  next  year  in  Languedoc, 
fighting  on  the  heretic  side. 

Peter  of  Aragon  looked  on  the  Albigensian  Crusade  as  a 
northern  war  of  conquest,  and  if  outsiders  were  to  win  new 
lands  why  had  he  not  the  same  right.  Jaime's  mother  fled  to 
Rome,  the  sole  court  of  arbitration  then  in  Europe,  and  when 
she  died  there,  she  left  her  son  the  ward  of  Innocent  III.1 


1  Innocent  III  was  the  best  type  of  the  theory,  enunciated  by  Boniface  VIII  as  the 
XIII  century  closed,  that  civil  rulers  derive  their  power  from  religious  authority. 
Leo  XIII,  in  the  encyclical  Immortale  Dei,  November,  1885,  set  aside  that  claim. 
Each  should  keep  to  its  own  sphere,  he  said,  one  is  not  subordinate  to  the  other;  civil 
authorities  are  to  attend  to  human  affairs,  and  spiritual  authorities  to  divine  things. 
With  every  monarch  in  Europe  appealing  to  him  for  his  arbitration,  it  is  little  wonder 
that  Innocent  III  should  have  held  the  views  he  did. 

385 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  pope  compelled  Simon  de  Montfort,  who  held  the  child 
as  hostage,  to  return  him  to  his  Spanish  subjects.  Jaime's 
tutor  was  that  Languedoc  knight,  St.  Peter  Nolasco  (d.  1258), 
who  founded  the  Order  of  Mercy  to  redeem  captives  from 
Moslem  prisons,  but  no  saint-tutor  or  saint-neighbor  could 
tame  this  fierce  young  eagle,  the  scion  of  the  French  Midi 
and  the  Spanish  Pyrenees.  From  the  time  he  buckled  on 
his  sword  as  a  boy,  to  his  death  in  1276,  the  weapon  never 
left  his  side.  He  cut  off  the  ear  of  the  bishop  of  Gerona  who 
had  rebuked  his  free  living,  for  Jaime's  domestic  relations 
were  on  a  par  with  those  of  the  Languedoc  lords  and  of  his 
Mahommedan  neighbors. 

The  church  which  now  is  Montpellier's  cathedral  consists 
of  a  modern  choir  of  the  meridional  type,  without  ambulatory 
or  flying  buttresses,  and  a  nave  built  as  an  abbatial  by 
Guillaume  de  Grimoard,  the  best  of  the  Avignon  popes,  Urban 
V.  The  nave  is  a  wide,  unaisled  hall,  with  small  clearstory 
windows.  Even  when  the  Midi  used  diagonals,  says  M. 
Enlart,  it  remained  faithful  to  Romanesque  traditions.  At 
the  west  facade  is  an  ungainly  canopy  held  up  by  two  round 
turrets  of  solid  stone,  the  sort  of  thing  which  is  a  builder's 
notion,  not  the  design  of  an  architect.  Urban  was  disappointed 
when  he  found  that  his  architect  from  Avignon  had  erected 
a  big  chapel  rather  than  a  church.  When  he  came  to  Mont- 
pellier  in  1367  the  new  edifice  was  almost  finished.  He  was 
honored  as  never  man  was  before  by  any  city.  The  towns- 
people marched  out  to  meet  him,  every  guild  and  corporation 
in  the  ranks,  the  lawyers  carrying  the  image  of  the  newly 
canonized  St.  Yves  of  Brittany.  When  the  pope's  visit  ended, 
half  the  population  walked  for  miles  with  him  into  the 
country,  and  the  town  authorities  escorted  him  all  the  way 
back  to  Avignon. 

Urban  V  had  been  educated  in  Montpellier  and  he  loved 
its  university,  in  which  for  years  he  had  taught  law  in  the 
school  where  Petrarch  studied.  He  renewed  the  departments 
of  law  and  art,  put  new  life  into  the  famed  medical  school 
(which  to-day  is  housed  in  the  former  bishop's  palace,  fortified 

386 


with  propped  machicolations),  and  founded  a  college  for  the 
free  maintenance  of  a  certain  number  of  students.  To  this 
day  Montpellier  reveres  him. 

All  over  Christendom  this  energetic  Midi  baron  endowed  in- 
stitutions of  learning,  supported  hundreds  of  students,  and  built 
monuments.  He  founded  the  universities  of  Prague,  Cracow, 
and  Vienna,  re-established  that  of  Orvieto,  made  a  school  of 
music  at  Toulouse,  began  the  cathedral  of  Mende,1  near  his 
birthplace,  and  in  Marseilles  rebuilt  St.  Victor's,  where  he  had 
been  abbot,2  and  where  remains  his  towering  tomb.  At  Avignon 
he  continued  the  making  of  its  walls  of  defense,  for  it  was  a  day 
when  the  lawless  Grandes  Compagnies  roved  over  France. 

Urban  was  too  wise  a  man  not  to  perceive  that  his  continued 
residence  at  Avignon  was  a  detriment  to  the  papacy,  and  he 
made  a  valiant  effort  to  return  to  Rome.  There,  too,  he  was 
no  sooner  established  than  he  initiated  works  of  art.3  Broken 
by  the  disorders  round  him  with  which  he  had  not  strength 

1  Mende  lies  in  the  mountains  of  western  Languedoc.     Its  cathedral  was  begun 
(1365)  under  the  auspices  of  Urban  V,  whose  statue  stands  in  the  square  close  by. 
Practically  it  is  a  XV-century  church,  without  capitals,  flying  buttresses,  or  transept. 
During  twelve  years  the  architect  was  Pierre  Juglar,  an  associate,  at  Riom,  of  those 
Flamboyant  Gothic  masters,  the  Dammartin  brothers.     The  cathedral  was  finished 
with  its  two  towers  in  1512.     From  1286  to  1296  the  bishop  of  Mende  was  Guillaume 
Durandus,  author  of  Rationale,  the  famous  book  on  church  symbolism.     He  was 
governor  under  the  popes  of  the  marches  of  Ancona  and  the  Romagna,  and  led  the 
papal  forces  in  battle.     The  Italian  city  of  Castel  Duranti  was  named  after  him. 
When  he  died  at  Rome  in  1296,  Giovanni  Cosmati  made  his  tomb,  a  masterpiece  in 
the  only  Gothic  church  of  Rome,  Santa-Maria-sopra-Minerva.     Urban  V  was  gen- 
erous also  to  St.  Flour  (which  lies  south  of  Mende),  whose  abbatial  was  rebuilt  in  the 
XIV  century;   John  XXII  had  raised  it  to  cathedral  rank  in  1317.     Congres  Archeo- 
logique,  1857,  Mende. 

2  Nothing  now  at  St.  Victor's,  Marseilles,  is  earlier  than  the  XI  century.     A  pre- 
Gothic  use  of  diagonal  ribs  (with  Lombard  rectangular  profiles)  cropped  out  here, 
yet  when  the  upper  church  was  remodeled  in  the  XIII  century,  Romanesque  vaulting 
was  used.     Urban  V  rebuilt  the  transept,  made  the  square  apse,  and  raised  the  battle- 
mented  towers.     When  he  visited  Marseilles  hi  1373  every  man  in  the  city  ceased 
his  work  to  welcome  him.     As  it  was  his  desire  to  be  buried  in  his  former  abbey,  his 
remains  were  brought  hither  in  1372,  and  his  successor,  Gregory  XI,  raised  a  sump- 
tuous Gothic  monument  forty  feet  in  height.     Abbe  A.  d'Agnel,  "  L'abbaye  de  St. 
Victor  de  Marseilles,"  in  Bulletin  historique  et  philosophique,  1906,  p.  364;    Eugene 
Miintz,  "  St.  Victor,  Marseilles,"  in  Gazette  ArcheoL,  1884. 

3  In  his  short  time  in  Rome  Urban  V  gave  commissions  for  art  works  to  Giottino 
and  the  sons  of  Taddeo  Gaddi,  and  he  had  made  the  precious  shrine  for  the  relics  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  hi  the  Lateran.     (See  Eugene  Miintz  hi  the  Cronique  des  Arts 
for  1880.) 

387 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

to  cope,  he  returned  to  his  beloved  southern  France,  where 
he  died  almost  immediately,  in  1370.  His  successor,  Gregory 
XI,  inspired  by  St.  Catherine  of  Siena,  who  journeyed  to 
Avignon  in  1376,  was  to  be  the  pontiff  who  ended  what  Italy, 
sick  to  death,  called  "the  Babylonian  captivity." 

Montpellier  was  not  a  bishopric  till  1536,  when  the  see  was 
removed  from  Maguelonne  here,  and  no  sooner  was  the  new 
see  established  when  the  city  was  sacked  twice — in  1561  and 
again  in  1565.  Every  tomb  in  the  present  cathedral  was 
violated.  Were  its  walls  lined  with  those  old-time  memorials 
they  would  appear  less  bare.  Neither  side  was  distinguished 
by  amenity  in  those  long  years  of  civil  strife. 

Maguelonne,  the  original  bishopric,  lies  six  miles  from 
Montpellier  on  the  Mediterranean.  In  ancient  days  it  was 
a  little  island  of  volcanic  formation,  then  in  time  an  island 
in  a  swamp,  connected  artificially  with  the  mainland.  Climb 
to  the  flat  stone  roof  of  the  ancient  cathedral  of  St.  Pierre, 
almost  the  only  monument  left  standing  here  where  civili- 
zation has  followed  civilization,  and  look  across  the  lagoons 
that  lie  between  France  and  the  solitary  dead  city.  Europe 
and  the  present  seem  no  longer  to  exist  in  this  the  most  aloof, 
self-effaced,  most  philosophic  spot  in  the  world. 

Maguelonne  had  known  all  the  peoples  in  their  pride. 
During  fifteen  hundred  years  it  played  its  part — Celt, 
Phoenician,  Greek,  and  Roman  ruled  here  in  turn.  Visigothic 
Wamba  besieged  it.  Islam  held  it  under  the  name  of  Port 
Saracen  till  Charles  Martel  drove  the  sea  robbers  from  their 
stronghold  by  destroying  the  city;  only  the  new  church  of 
St.  Peter  was  saved.  For  the  following  three  centuries  Ma- 
guelonne lay  deserted.  Then  in  1037  Bishop  Arnaud  under- 
took to  restore  the  city,  and  the  cathedral  he  rebuilt  was 
blessed  in  1054.  Prosperity  soon  returned  under  a  republican 
form  of  government,  with  the  bishop  as  president.  Maguelonne 
became  an  asylum  for  exiles  and  a  retreat  for  scholars.  Urban 
II  blessed  the  island  in  1095.  When  Pope  Gelasius  II,  driven 
from  Rome,  landed  at  St.  Gilles  in  1118,  he  soon  sailed  thence 
for  Maguelonne,  and  hither  came  Alexander  III  in  1162. 

388 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

The  cathedral  of  St.  Pierre  stood  up  a  very  rock  of  defense 
against  the  corsairs  of  Spain  and  Africa.  On  its  flat  stone 
roof  engines  of  war  were  placed.  The  present  Xl-century 
church  replaces  that  of  Charles  Martel's  day;  over  an  arm 
of  its  transept  occurred  one  of  the  pre-Gothic  early  uses  of 
diagonals.  The  transverse  arches  of  the  nave  are  slightly 
pointed.  On  the  lintel  of  its  portal  of  creamy -white  marble — 
Classic,  Siaracenic,  Romanesque,  and  Gothic,  with  doorjamb 
bas-reliefs  of  Peter  and  Paul,  key  and  sword — were  inscribed  by 
Bernard  de  Trevies  in  1178  some  Latin  verses  still  legible: 

Ye  who  seek  life's  port  to  gain  enter  now  this  sacred  fane. 
If  ye  pass  these  gates  within,  ye  may  break  the  chains  of  sin, 
So  to  pray  thou  must  not  fail,  all  thy  cruel  sins  bewail; 
Know  that  all  thy  sins  and  fears  may  be  washed  away  in  tears.1 

The  cathedral  of  St.  Peter  was  spared  in  the  second  anni- 
hilation of  Maguelonne,  which  took  place  after  the  religious 
wars,  when  Richelieu's  policy  was  to  level  every  possible 
fort  that  rebellion  might  use.  Stone  by  stone  the  other 
monuments  of  the  city  were  carried  away.  When  the  canal 
from  Cette  to  Aigues-Mortes  was  built,  in  1708,  Maguelonne 
became  a  useful  quarry.  St.  Peter's  church  now  stands  alone, 
embalmed  as  in  amber,  preaching  the  sobering  lesson,  Sic 
transit  gloria  mundi. 

AIGUES-MORTES 2 

Aigues-Mortes!  Consonnance  d'une  desolation  incomparable!  Dans  le 
train  si  lent  a  traverser  la  Camargue  je  m'imagine  ces  mornes  remparts 
qui  depuis  sept  siecles  subsistent  intacts.  J'evoque  ces  myst^rieux  Sarrasins, 
ces  16gers  Barbaresques  qui  pillaient  ces  cotes  et  fuaient,  insaisis,  meme 
par  1'histoire.  Aigues-Mortes,  le  vieux  guerrier  qu'ils  assaillaient  sans 
treve,  est  toujours  a  son  poste,  6tendu  sur  la  plaine,  comme  un  chevalier, 
les  armes  a  la  main,  est  fig6  en  pierre  sur  son  tombeau. — MAURICE  BARRES.3 

1  Translated  by  F.  J.  C.  Kearns,  O.  P. 

2  Congres  Archeologique,  1909,  p.  183;  J.  Ch.  Roux,  Aigues-Mortes  (Paris,  Bloud  et 
Cie,  1910) ;   F.  Em.  di  Pietro,  Histoire  d' 'Aigues-Mortes  (Paris,  1849) ;   Marius  Topin, 
Aigues-Mortes  (Nimes,  1865);  Abbe  H.  Aigon,  Aigues-Mortes,  ville  de  St.  Louis  (1908); 
H.  Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artistique  et  monumentale,  vol.  3,  p.  145;    Ch.  Lentheric, 
Le  littoral  d' Aigues-Mortes  au  XIlle  et  au  XIVe  siecles  (Nimes,  1870);    Vic.  (Dom) 
et  Vaissette  (Dom),  Histoire  de  Languedoc,  vol.  7,  p.  107,  3d  ed.;    Viollet-le-Duc, 
Dictionnaire  de  I' architecture,  vol.  1,  pp.  378,  390;  vol.  9,  p.  182. 

3  Maurice  Barres,  Le  jar  din  de  Berenice  (Paris,  Charpentier,  1894). 

389 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

"I  propose  that  we  institute  a  pilgrimage,"  sighed  Rodin, 
"to  all  monuments  de  plein  air  yet  spared  by  restora- 
tion." Aigues-Mortes'  big  quadrangle  set  on  the  dead 
lagoons  is  precisely  as  it  came  from  its  builder's  hand 
in  the  reign  of  Philippe  III,  son  of  St.  Louis.  No  destructive 
restoration  has  ever  chipped  away  the  time  stain  of  centuries. 
So  shrunken  is  the  little  town  of  to-day,  within  those  imposing 
ramparts  with  their  fifteen  towers  and  nine  gateways,  that  it 
is  as  weird  an  experience  to  encircle  the  walls  within  as  to 
make  the  solitary  tour  without. 

No  sooner  did  St.  Louis  take  the  crusaders'  vow,  in  1244, 
when  he  began  to  look  about  for  a  concentration  camp  on  the 
southern  coast.  He  was  suzerain  only  in  the  south  of  France. 
Narbonne  had  its  own  counts  and  so  had  Provence;  St. 
Gilles  and  Adge  were  in  the  Toulouse  countship,  and  the 
Montpellier  coast  was  under  Aragon.  Practically  only  swampy 
Aigues-Mortes  was  available.  St.  Louis  purchased  it  from 
the  monks  of  Psalmodi,  and  reconstructed  an  old  tower  on 
the  site  which  had  served  as  a  fort  during  piratical  attacks. 
The  grand  Tour  de  Constance,  now  standing  outside  the 
quadrangle  fortification,  is  the  only  part  of  Aigues-Mortes  of 
Louis  IX's  day.  He  deepened  the  tortuous  canal  of  eight 
miles  that  led  to  the  sea,  since  Aigues-Mortes  never  was 
directly  on  the  Mediterranean.  The  Genoese  architect, 
Boccanegra,  who  constructed  the  ramparts  for  Philippe  III, 
followed  the  type  of  fortified  town  in  the  Orient;  Aigues- 
Mortes  especially  resembled  Antioch. 

On  both  his  crusades  St.  Louis  started  from  his  fort  on 
the  dead  waters.  When  in  1248  the  crusaders  saw  the  low- 
lying  spot  so  like  the  pestilential  coasts  of  the  East,  many  a 
heart  felt  oppressed.  Again  in  1270  the  king's  army  arrived 
at  Aigues-Mortes.  Finding  his  transport  ships  delayed, 
Louis  IX  thought  it  best  to  move  his  warriors  to  the  more 
healthful  site  of  St.  Gilles.  There  he  held  brilliant  court,  to 
keep  up  the  idle  army's  spirit,  and  at  the  tourneys  excelled  his 
Provencal  queen's  nephew,  the  future  king  of  England,  Edward 
I.  The  crusaders  left  their  mark  on  the  walls  of  St.  Gilles. 

390 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

ST.  GILLES1 

Noms  des  Morts  pour  la  Patrie, 

Qu'on  vous  trie 
Selons  vos  provinces;    puis, 
Pour  propager  votre  culte, 

Qu'on  vous  sculpte 
Sur  la  borne  et  sur  le  puits!  .  .  . 

Mais  d'abord,  que  votre  zele 

Vous  cisele 

Sur  les  maisons  memes  d'oil 
Pour  aller  vers  le  martyre, 

Us  partirent 
Dans  le  soleil  du  mois  d'aout. 

.  .  .  On  lira  sur  la  corniche 

Pauvre  ou  riche: 

"Mori  pour  nous  .  .  .  un  tel  .  .  .  un  tel  .  .  ." 
Trois  fois,  tous  bas,  comme  on  prie, 

On  s'£crie: 

"Morts  pour  nous  .  .  .  pour  nous  .  .  .  pour  nous!" 
— EDMOND  ROSTAND  (1868-1918;  born  in  Marseilles).2 

To  this  day  on  the  stones  of  St.  Gilles'  abbatial  are  the 
graffiti  of  ships  and  warriors — a  king  among  them — scratched 
by  the  swords  of  St.  Louis'  crusaders  before  they  crossed  to 
their  death  in  Africa,  1270.  The  sadly  dilapidated  bourg 
which  is  St.  Gilles  to-day  played  a  prominent  part  in  the 
important  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Many  were  the 
popes  and  kings  who  visited  it  to  venerate  the  tomb  of  the 
VIH-century  hermit,  JSgidius,  from  Athens,  whose  cult  was 
widely  spread  over  western  Christendom,  as  many  a  church 
image  and  window  showing  the  holy  man  and  his  fawn  remain 
to  tell. 

The  counts  of  Toulouse  were  the  chief  patrons  of  the  abbey. 
On  the  First  Crusade,  Raymond  IV  of  Toulouse  bore  the 

1  Congrea  Archeologique,  1897,  p.  98;  and  1909,  p.  168,  L.  H.  Labande;  J.  Ch.  Roux, 
St.  Gilles,  sa  legende,  son  abbaye,  ses  coutumes  (Paris,  Lemerre,  1910),  4to;   J.  Hubidos, 
Histoire  et  decoration  de  Veglise  abbatiale  de  St.  Gilles  (Nlmes,  1906);    De  Lasteyrie, 
Etude  sur  la  sculpture  frangaise  au  moyen  age  (Paris,  1902);    A.  Marignan,   L'ecole 
de  sculpture  de  Provence  du  XIIe  au  XIIIe  siecle;  Histoire  littSraire  de  la  France,  vol. 
19,  p.  268,  Clement  IV  (Paris,  1838);    Forel,  Voyage  au  pays  des  sculpteurs  romans 
(Paris  and  Geneva,  1913),  2  vols;   W.  Voge,  Die  Anfdnge  des  monumentalen  Stt/ls. 

2  Edmond  Rostand,  "  Le  nom  sur  la  maison,"  in  Le  vol  de  la  Marseillaise  (Paris, 
Charpentier-Fasquelle,  1919). 


title  Count  of  St.  Gilles.  Raymond  VI  held  here,  in  1208, 
an  interview  with  the  papal  legate,  Guy  de  Castelnau,  the 
after-consequences  of  which  precipitated  the  Albigensian  wars. 
Angry  words  were  uttered  by  the  count  when  the  legate 
rebuked  him  for  shielding  the  heretics,  and  the  next  day  the 
legate  was  murdered  by  one  of  the  count's  retainers  as  he 
was  about  to  cross  the  Rhone.  Thereupon  Innocent  III 
declared  the  Albigensian  Crusade.  In  the  following  year 
Raymond  VI  performed  penance  before  the  church  door  of 
St.  Gilles — the  last  public  canonical  penance  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  disasters  of  the  house  of  Toulouse  diminished 
the  abbey's  building  funds. 

The  discussions  over  the  date  of  St.  Gilles  have  been  of 
importance  because  of  its  relation  to  the  school  of  Provencal 
sculpture  of  which  the  most  notable  monument  is  its  triple 
portal.  Before  St.  Gilles'  western  end  is  a  mass  of  composite 
imagery,  of  different  dates  and  material,  yet  composing  an 
architectural  unit.  Six  bays  of  the  nave  are  covered  by  a 
masonry  roof  of  the  XVIII  century;  only  the  piers  and  side 
walls  of  the  edifice  are  ancient.  Beyond  the  nave  lie  the 
ruins  of  the  choir,  in  which  has  been  installed  an  open-air 
archaeological  museum. 

Did  the  choir  of  St.  Gilles  still  stand,  it  would  be  the  best 
Gothic  monument  in  the  south  of  France,  exceptional  in  pos- 
sessing an  ambulatory  and  radiating  chapels.  At  its  entrance 
still  exists  a  spiral  staircase,  the  vis  de  St.  Gilles,  the  first  of 
its  kind  constructed,  which  many  a  mason  of  the  Middle 
Ages  journeyed  hither  to  see.  The  steps  compose  an  annular 
vault,  winding  like  a  corkscrew. 

According  to  M.  Labande,  the  choir  of  St.  Gilles  was  built 
from  1140  to  1175,  and  at  first  there  was  no  intention  of 
vaulting  it  with  diagonals.  As  the  walls  rose,  however,  a 
Gothic  vault  was  prepared  for.  The  nave,  whose  capitals 
have  well-cut  acanthus  leaves,  was  erected  from  1175  to 
1209.  It  could  not  have  been  finished  when  in  1265  Clement 
IV  rebuked  his  fellow  citizens  of  St.  Gilles  for  their  delay  in 
completing  their  church.  Clement  had  been  a  local  lawyer — 

392 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

a  Romanesque  house  is  still  pointed  out  as  his — by  name, 
Guy  Fouquet,  or  Fulcodi.  The  death  of  his  wife  caused 
him  to  embrace  religion.  When  raised  to  St.  Peter's  chair, 
such  was  his  dread  of  nepotism  that  he  wrote  to  his  daughters 
they  were  not  to  expect  matches  any  more  important  than 
if  he  were  a  simple  knight;  we  learn  that  the  well-admonished 
young  ladies  failed  to  obtain  any  husbands  at  all.  This 
pope,  whom  St.  Louis  called  "noire  aime'  et  feal  Guy,"  instigated 
the  crusade  of  1270,  which  was  associated  in  the  hour  of  its 
departure  with  his  own  town. 

Despite  his  exhortation,  St.  Gilles'  choir  was  joined  to  its 
nave  only  in  the  XIV  century,  as  is  proved  by  the  rows  of 
Rayonnant  Gothic  foliage  on  the  capital  of  the  nave's  eastern- 
most bay.  The  XVI-century  religious  wars  devastated  the 
abbey,  which  now  was  held  by  Calvinists,  now  by  Catholics; 
and  finally  the  Huguenots,  after  using  the  church  as  a  citadel, 
ordered  that  it  be  razed.  The  tower  was  mined  and  its  fall 
wrecked  all  around  it,  but  the  arrival  of  the  king's  troops 
saved  the  edifice  from  entire  destruction;  as  the  masonry 
roof  had  collapsed,  a  bastard-Gothic  restoration  of  the  nave 
was  undertaken  from  1650  to  1670.  Then  came  the  Revolu- 
tion; the  choir  was  sold  and  its  stones  carted  away.  So 
dead  seemed  all  appreciation  of  the  national  art  that  the 
constitutional  cure  of  St.  Gilles  clamored  for  the  demolition 
of  the  famous  triple  portal,  as  its  images  "were  insupportable 
reminders  of  past  servitude,  recalling  the  odious  feudal  regime, 
displeasing  to  lovers  of  liberty  and  equality."  Till  the  middle 
of  the  XIX  century  the  church  was  abandoned. 

During  excavations  in  1765  a  chamber,  or  bay,  of  rough 
workmanship  was  unearthed  in  the  crypt,  and  in  it  was  found 
a  tomb  inscribed  as  that  of  St.  Gilles.  This  is  all  that  remains 
of  the  church  in  which  Urban  II  blessed  an  altar  in  1096.  On 
a  buttress  of  the  crypt  an  inscription  states  that  its  foundation 
was  laid  Easter  Monday  of  1116.  The  abbey  had  been 
damaged  by  an  irate  count  of  Toulouse,  and  Calixtus  II  asked 
Peter  the  Venerable  to  send  from  Cluny  a  new  abbot  to 
reorganize  things. 

393 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  crypt's  north  and  west  walls  rose  first,  but  the  work 
was  dropped  and  taken  up  several  times.  All  the  vaulting, 
whether  groin  or  diagonals,  was  an  afterthought,  for  all  the 
piers  have  been  rearranged  for  the  masonry  roof  they  now 
support.  Only  a  few  of  the  westernmost  bays  of  the  crypt 
used  diagonals,  and  as  their  profiles  are  the  same  as  those  in 
the  choir,  building  from  1140  onward,  they  are  probably  con- 
temporary. Inscriptions  on  the  outer  west  wall  of  the  crypt 
prove  that  in  1142  people  were  buried  there,  which  would  in- 
dicate that  the  present  stair  to  the  west  portal  was  not  yet  ar- 
ranged. Perhaps  for  a  time  they  were  not  sure  of  making  an 
upper  church  above  the  spacious  basement.  By  1209  that  upper 
nave  was  built,  because  Innocent  III  buried  his  murdered  am- 
bassador beside  the  tomb  of  St.  Gilles,  and  when  Raymond  VI 
had  performed  public  penance  before  the  portal,  we  are  told 
that  he  was  brushed  against  by  the  crowd,  and  escaped  through 
the  lower  church,  passing  his  victim's  new  tomb. 

The  imaged  portal  of  St.  Gilles,  which  inspired  the  porch 
of  Trinity  Church,  Boston,  is  a  composite  mass  of  imagery 
begun  in  the  XII  century  and  continued  till  St.  Louis'  day. 
Pilfered  fragments  were  made  use  of,  as  was  only  natural  in 
a  region  where  Rome  had  left  many  monuments.  Some  of 
the  pillars  are  the  fluted  marbles  of  antiquity;  others  are  of 
granite.  Fourteen  columns  and  fourteen  large  images  of 
apostles  and  angels  give  unity  to  the  composition,  as  does  the 
continuous  wide  frieze. 

St.  Gilles'  images,  strong  and  short  like  the  figures  on  the 
Gallo-Roman  sarcophagi  near  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone,  are 
perfectly  proportioned  to  the  place  they  occupy,  cold,  im- 
personal figures,  more  architectural  than  sculptural,  the 
fruit  of  an  old  art,  not  the  beginning  of  a  new  tradition,  as 
was  the  theory  of  Herr  Voge,  who  would  trace  to  Provence 
the  origin  of  French  Gothic  sculpture.  M.  de  Lasteyrie 
contended  that  the  Porte  Royale  at  Chartres — first  of  the 
Gothic  portals,  last  of  the  Romanesque — with  its  long,  slender 
figures  in  whose  visages  expression  has  been  attempted, 
descends  from  the  imaged  portals  of  Burgundy,  not  from 

394 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

St.  Gilles  or  St.  Trophime,  but  from  a  nascent  rather  than  a 
dying  art  tradition.  The  Lombard  school  gave  to  St.  Gilles 
its  lion  caryatides,  a  very  popular  feature  at  church  doors; 
Lanfranco,  who  remade  Modena's  cathedral  in  1099,  had  been 
the  first  to  plant  pillars  on  the  backs  of  lions,  perhaps  copying 
some  lost  work  of  antiquity. 

"A  world  in  itself,"  said  Prosper  Merimee  of  St.  Gilles' 
sculptured  portal.  Under  the  biblical  scenes  of  the  frieze 
animals  crouch  and  crawl.  Some  of  the  frieze  groups,  such  as 
the  Flagellation,  are  full  of  spirit,  and  must  be  of  later  date 
than  certain  other  stiff  archaic  figures.  The  Kiss  of  Judas 
with  its  grimacing  soldiers  is  probably  a  XVII-century  restora- 
tion. The  only  time  that  the  Expulsion  from  the  Temple 
was  treated  in  the  older  work  was  here.  The  sisters  Martha 
and  Mary  and  their  brother  Lazarus,  with  Mary  Jacobi  and 
Mary  Salome,  are  all  imaged  at  St.  Gilles'  door.  The  tradition 
of  their  arrival  in  Provence  was  gaining  in  favor  every  day 
while  this  portico  was  making. 

The  savants  inform  us,  though  not  patriotic  Provengal 
savants,  that  no  mention  of  the  saints  of  Bethany  is  to  be 
found  in  Provence  before  the  middle  of  the  XI  century. 
Monseigneur  Duchesne  of  the  Institute  of  France,  who  takes 
saints  out  of  their  niches  as  boldly  as  any  Bollandist,  tells 
us  that  it  was  the  monks  of  Vezelay  in  Burgundy  who  first 
imagined  the  arrival  in  southern  France  of  Mary  Magdalene, 
in  order  to  explain  how  it  was  they  possessed  her  relics,  the 
lodestar  of  their  pilgrim  shrine.  Then,  gradually,  the  legend 
grew  till  it  was  a  remarkably  full  boatload  that  landed,  in 
A.D.  40,  at  Les  Saintes-Maries,1  where  the  Little  Rhone,  on 

1  Les  Saintes-Maries  is  a  desolate  village  of  the  Camargue,  on  the  sea  by  the  "Rhone 
of  St.  Gilles,"  six  miles  to  the  west  of  the  big  Rhone.  The  crenelated  fortress-church 
replaced,  in  the  XII  century,  one  destroyed  by  Saracens.  Its  eastern  end  rises  in 
three  stories;  below,  in  the  crypt,  is  the  shrine  of  Sara,  the  dark  handmaiden;  above 
is  the  high  altar;  and  crowning  all  is  the  shrine  (placed  in  St.  Michael's  care)  in  which 
Mary  Jacobi  and  Mary  Salome  are  honored.  Their  chapel  opens  on  the  church  over 
the  entrance  to  the  Mass  chapel.  The  sculpture  resembles  that  of  St.  Trophime,  at 
Aries;  perhaps  the  much-eroded  marble  lions  came  from  some  monument  of  antiquity. 
Twice  a  year  there  are  popular  pilgrimages  to  Les  Saintes-Maries,  that  of  May  being 
frequented  by  the  gypsies.  Monseigneur  Duchesne,  "  La  legende  Sainte-Marie- 
Madeleine,"  in  Annales  du  Midi,  1903,  vol.  5;  Georges  de  Manteyer,  "  Les  legendes 

395 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

which  stands  St.  Gilles,  enters  the  Mediterranean:  the  risen 
Lazarus,  whose  relics  were  claimed  by  Autun  in  1144;  Martha, 
whose  relics  appeared  at  Tarascon  in  1187  and  caused  a  new 
church  there  to  rise;1  Marcella,  the  waiting  woman  of  Martha 
and  Mary;  Maximinus,  one  of  Our  Lord's  disciples;  Simon 
the  leper;  St.  Sidonius;  Joseph  of  Aramathea;  and  the 
Blessed  Virgin's  sisters,  Mary  Jacobi,  mother  of  James  the 
Less,  and  Mary  Salome,  mother  of  James  and  John,  and  their 
dark  handmaiden  Sara,  who  became  the  patroness  of  gypsies. 
Monseigneur  Duchesne  says  that  a  grotto  dedicated  to  the 
Virgin  in  the  mountains  east  of  Marseilles  came  to  be  regarded, 
by  gradual  unconscious  fabrication,  as  the  Sainte  Baume 
where  Mary  Magdalene  passed  years  of  penitence,  for  the 
Midi  wove  the  story  of  St.  Mary  the  Egyptian  with  the 
saint  of  Bethany.  All  these  holy  people  who  had  known  the 
Lord  fled  from  Syria  after  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Stephen 
and  found  asylum  in  southern  France.  The  savants  can 

saintes  de  Provence,"  in  Melanges  d'archeol.  et  d'hist.:  Ecole  de  Rome,  1897,  vol.  17; 
Faillon,  L'apostolat  des  Saintes-Maries  en  Provence.  (This  latter  gives  the  Midi  loyal- 
ists' point  of  view.)  (1848,  2  vols.) 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1897,  pp.  95,  291,  Tarascon;  pp.  92,  333,  Beaucaire;  and 
1909,  p.  262,  Tarascon.  The  church  of  St.  Martha  at  Tarascon  was  dedicated  in 
1197,  but  reconstructed  in  the  XIV  century.  The  south  portal,  with  its  curious  little 
gallery,  is  of  the  XIII  century.  The  honored  relics  are  in  the  crypt  in  a  heavy  tomb 
of  1650.  The  simpler  sarcophagus  that  once  held  them  now  stands  by  the  side  wall. 
All  over  France  the  defeat  of  paganism  by  Christian  bishop  or  saint  was  symbolized 
by  a  dragon,  and  in  the  course  of  time  the  people  often  took  the  symbol  for  reality. 
The  legend  of  St.  Martha's  Tarasque,  or  dragon,  may  be  of  this  origin.  Louis  II 
d'Anjou  began  the  castle  of  Tarascon,  which  was  decorated  by  good  King  Rene.  At 
Beaucaire,  across  the  Rhone,  is  a  tower  built  by  St.  Louis.  The  international  fair 
of  Beaucaire  was  famous.  "  Aucassin  was  of  Beaucaire,  of  a  goodly  castle  there": 

'  'Tis  of  Aucassin  and  Nicolette.  .  .  . 
The  song  has  charm,  the  tale  has  grace, 
And  courtesy  and  good  address. 
No  man  is  in  such  distress, 
Such  suffering  or  weariness, 
Sick  with  ever  such  sickness, 
But  he  shall,  if  he  hear  this, 
Recover  all  his  happiness, 

So  sweet  it  is!" 

Turn  to  that  can te-f able  of  the  XIII  century,  and  live  again  the  Midi's  days  of 
chivalry.  Turn  to  that  XlX-century  masterpiece  of  satirical  generous  humor,  Tartarin 
de  Tarascon,  more  likely  to  survive  than  many  a  more  pretentious  tale,  so  gay  it  is. 

F.  W.  Bourillon,  ed.  and  tr.  of  Aucassin  et  Nicolette  (Oxford,  1896). 

396 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 


prove  what  they  will;  while  in  Provence,  in  the  "kingdom 
of  sentiment,"  one  believes  every  word  of  it.  Read  Mistral's 
Mireille  and  dare  to  be  a  skeptic!  Under  the  leaden  skies  of 
Paris  you  may  take  the  Institute's  learning  seriously.  But 
gazing  at  la  grand  bleu,  the  frequented  highway  between 
Syria  and  Gaul  when  Roman  Emperors  ruled  both,  you 
say  to  yourself  that  it  all  could  have  happened.  For  hundreds 
of  years  the  people  of  Provence  have  been  made  better  and 
happier  because  they  have  believed  that  the  historic  family  of 
Bethany  who  entertained  the  Lord  were  entertained  by  them. 

ST.   TROPHIME  AT  ARLES * 


Seigneur,  des  lois  et  voies 
antiques,  nous  avions 
quitted    I'aust6rit£,  vertus, 
coutumes  domestiques, 
nous  avions  tout  d^truit, 
demoli. .  .  . 

Seigneur,  nous  sommes  tes 
enfants  prodigues;    mais 
nous  sommes  tes  vieux 
chreliens:    que  ta  justice 
nous  chatie,  mais  au  tr6pas, 
ne  nous  laisse  point.  .  .  . 

Seigneur,  au  nom  des  pauvres 
gens,  au  nom  des  forts,  au 
nom  des  morts — qui  auront 
p6ri  pour  la  patrie,  pour  leur 
devoir,  et  pour  leur  foil  ... 


Seigneur,  pour  tant  d'aversite"s, 
de  massacres,  d'incendies; 
pour  tant  de  deuil  sur  notre 
France,  pour  tant  d'affronts 
sur  notre  front, 

Seigneur,  d£sarme  ta  justice! 
Jette  un  regard  par  ici-bas; 
et  enfin  £coute  les  cris 
de  meurtris  et  des  blesses!  .  .  . 

Seigneur,  nous  voulons  devenir 
des  hommes;  en  liberte — 
tu  peux  nous  mettre! 
Gallo-Romans  et  fils  de  noble 
race,  nous  marchons  droit 
dans  notre  pays. 


— (Literal  French  translation  of  Mistral's  "Psaume  de  la  penitence,"  1870.) 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1876;  and  1909,  p.  213,  L.  H.  Labande;  L.  H.  Labande, 
"  £tude  historique  et  archeologique  sur  St.  Trophime  d'Arles,"  in  Bulletin  Archeo- 
logique, 1904,  p.  459;  J.  de  Louviere,  "  St.  Trophime  d'Arles,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental, 
1876,  vol.  42,  p.  741;  Abbe  Bernard,  La  basilique  primatiale  de  St.  Trophime  d' Aries, 
2  vols.,  8vo;  Roger  Peyre,  Nimes,  Aries,  Orange  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres), 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1904);  Georges  de  Manteyer,  La  Province  du  Ie  au  XIIe  siecle 
(1908);  F.  Beissier,  Le  pays  d'Arles  (1889);  Abbe  Pougnet,  Etude  analytique  sur  I' archi- 
tecture de  la  Provence  au  may  en  age  (1867);  H.  Revoil,  L' architecture  romane  du  Midi 
de  la  France  (Paris,  Morel  et  Cie,  1873),  3  vols.;  Martin,  L'art  roman  en  France 
(Paris,  1910);  Rebatu,  Anliquites  d'Arles  (1876);  J.  B.  de  Rossi,  "Le  cim6tiere  des 
Arlescamps  et  sa  basilique  de  St.  Pierre,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1875,  vol.  41, 
p.  170;  E.  Leblant,  Les  sarcophages  chretien  de  la  Gaule  (1886);  Alexis  Forel,  Voyage 
au  pays  des  sculpteurs  romans,  vol.  1,  chap.  1,  "  Arles-la-grecque  "  (Paris  and  Geneva, 
1913),  2  vols. 

397 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  western  portal  of  the  cathedral  at  Aries,  less  carefully 
executed  than  that  at  St.  Gilles,  was  begun  at  the  end  of  the 
XII  century  and  finished  in  a  couple  of  generations.  Both 
were  inspired  by  the  same  local  classic  influences  of  Rome 
and  the  subsequent  Gallo-Roman  development.  The  large 
statues,  eminently  architectural,  at  the  famous  door  of  St. 
Trophime,  are  as  sturdy  and  squat  as  the  images  on  early 
Christian  tombs.  Two  of  those  ancient  tombs,  of  the  V  and 
VI  centuries,  have  been  turned  to  ecclesiastic  usage  in  this 
very  church,  as  baptismal  font  and  altar,  and  across  the  square 
from  the  cathedral  many  others  can  be  studied  in  the  Museum 
of  Aries.  The  strong  Byzantine  influences  apparent  in  St. 
Trophime's  sculpture  recall  that  Aries  was  the  favorite 
residence  of  Constantine.  From  northern  Italy  came  the 
animal-caryatides  idea. 

St.  Trophime's  Romanesque  entrance  leads  into  a  somber 
church  under  whose  barrel  vault  reigns  a  mellow  gloom.1 
Begun  before  the  middle  of  the  XI  century,  it  was  recon- 
structed in  the  XII  century;  the  painfully  narrow  high  side 
aisles  are  covered  by  quarter  circles  that  buttress  the  central 
vessel,  whose  undergirding  arches  are  slightly  pointed  because 
the  pre-Gothic  masons  had  learned  that  the  thrust  of  a  broken 
arch  was  less.  The  XV  century  built  the  insignificant  choir 
(without  the  vestige  of  a  capital),  exceptional  only  in  having 
the  sole  ambulatory  and  radiating  chapels  in  Provence.  A 
prelate  of  the  Grignan  family  built  a  chapel  projecting  from 
the  transept,  for,  not  far  away,  in  Dauphiny,  is  the  chateau 
of  Grignan,  where  Madame  de  Sevigne  died  while  staying 
with  her  daughter;  one  knows  that  she  and  XHI-century 
Blanche  of  Castile  had  been  friendly. 

St.  Trophime's  cloister,  among  the  most  beautiful  in  France, 
building  from  the  XII  to  the  end  of  the  XIV  century,  is  the 
fairest  Christian  monument  of  Aries.2  This  Midi  art  expands 

1  "  Saint-Trophime,  humide  et  ecrase,  dit  une  louange  irresistible  a  la  solitude  et 
s'offre  comme  un  refuge  centre  la  vie.  .  .  .  Aries,  ou  rien  n'est  vulgaire." — MAURICE 
BARR£S,  Le  jardin  de  Berenice  (Paris,  Charpentier,  1894). 

2  There  is  another  cloister  at  Montmajour,  fcur  miles  from  Aries.     Its  transverse 
ribs  are  caught  along  the  wall  on  corbels  carved  with  grotesques.     Nothing  at  Mont- 

398 


The  Mediaeval  Cloister  of  Aries 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

in  the  sunlight  and  grows  melancholy  under  a  masonry  roof. 
Aries  was  a  free  town  when  it  was  begun,  with  its  own  podesta 
and  consuls  like  a  flourishing  commercial  city  in  Italy.  About 
1150,  the  north  gallery  was  commenced,  and  the  one  to  the 
east  soon  followed.  The  angle  pier  is  composite  (c.  1180), 
with  St.  Trophimus  standing  between  St.  John  and  St.  Peter, 
the  latter  being  sculptured  in  marble.  The  storied  capitals 
of  the  cloister  are  exceedingly  interesting.  In  the  second 
half  of  the  XIV  century  the  west  walk  was  begun,  and  almost 
immediately  was  followed  by  the  south  gallery,  which  is  similar 
to  it  save  for  slight  details.  The  cloister  was  completed 
under  Bishop  Jean  de  Rochechouart  (1390-98). 

Aries,  like  Lyons,  claims  a  direct  apostolic  origin.  A 
tradition  says  that  St.  Trophimus,  her  first  bishop,  was  the 
disciple  of  the  gentile  of  Ephesus,  whom  St.  Paul  mentioned 
in  his  epistle  to  Timothy.  For  centuries  before  the  popu- 
larity of  the  Saints  of  Bethany  legends  in  the  Midi,  St.  Tro- 
phimus was  revered.  Pope  Zosimus,  in  the  V  century,  called 
Aries  "the  source  from  which  flowed  all  over  Gaul  the  rivu- 
lets of  the  Faith."  Gregory  of  Tours  voiced  another  tradition 
concerning  St.  Trophimus  when  he  named  him  as  one  of  the 
seven  evangelists  sent  by  Pope  Fabian  into  Gaul  in  250.  At 
any  rate,  whether  he  lived  in  the  first  century  or  the  third, 
St.  Trophimus  was  the  first  bishop  of  Aries,  and  it  is  right 
that  its  primate  church  should  be  dedicated  to  him. 

Aries,  from  which  flowed  over  Gaul  the  rivulets  of  the 
Faith,  is  a  city  of  ruins,  and  yet  most  gracious  in  aspect; 
Aries  la  blanc,  Joinville  called  it  as  he  sailed  by  on  his  way 

majour  pre-dates  A.D.  1000.  In  the  monastery  church  appeared  (in  the  transept) 
some  early  diagonals;  the  crypt  (middle  of  the  XII  century)  is  of  a  peculiar  plan: 
a  circular  chapel  in  the  middle  of  its  apse  with  chapels  radiating  from  the  passage 
round  it.  From  each  arm  of  the  transept  projects  an  apse  chapel.  Under  a  hillock 
is  a  small  shrine  remade  in  the  XIII  century.  In  1369  a  tower  of  defense  was  added 
to  the  abbey.  The  curious  chapel  of  the  Holy  Cross,  in  a  meadow  near  by,  is  not  of 
the  time  of  its  foundation,  1019,  but  a  reconstruction  of  the  XII  century,  probably 
intended  for  the  chapel  of  a  graveyard.  Montmajour  once  rose  from  the  sea  marshes 
that  for  centuries  came  up  to  the  gates  of  Aries.  J.  M.  Trichaud,  Les  mines  de  Vabbaye 
de  Montmajour-les-Arles  (Aries,  1854);  Congres  Archeologique,  1876,  p.  362;  and  1909, 
p.  154;  Chantelon  (Dom),  Histoire  de  Montmajour  (1890);  L.  Royer,  L'abbaye  de 
Montmajour-les-Arles  (Abbeville,  Paillart,  1910). 
26  399 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

to  the  Sixth  Crusade;  Aries  la  Grecque.  The  women  walk 
as  nobly  as  the  matrons  of  antiquity  here  where  "the  copper 
coins  of  Rome's  republic  and  the  gold  of  the  emperors  gleam 
in  the  sun  amid  the  springtime  wheat."  "I  tell  you,  and 
you  can  well  believe  me,"  sings  Mistral,  "that  the  damsel 
of  whom  I  speak  is  a  queen,  for,  know  you,  she  is  twenty  years 
old  and  she  is  Arlesienne.  .  .  .  She  descended  with  lowered 
eyes  the  steps  of  St.  Trophime,  and  the  stone  saints  by  the 
portal  blessed  her  as  she  passed,  for  she  was  ineffably  good." 
There  are  books  so  typical  of  their  race,  or  this  period,  that 
they  belong  to  all  time,  and  by  them  posterity  can  learn 
more  of  the  basic  forces  that  build  monuments  than  from 
many  a  learned  treatise.  Such  a  book  is  Voragine's  Golden 
Legend,  such  a  book  is  the  Rationale  of  Durandus.  The 
Barzas-Breiz  teaches  us  to  comprehend  Carnac  and  the  Cal- 
varies of  Brittany.  Even  so  the  soul  of  Provence  has  been 
interpreted  by  her  own  Mistral,  who  loved  "the  perfume  of 
the  ancient  days  when  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone  flourished 
a  refined  civilization  that  for  a  time  bore  the  name,  the  King- 
dom of  Aries,  but  that  really,  through  all  the  successive  revo- 
lutions, was  naught  else  but  the  direct  survival,  on  French 
soil,  of  Rome's  civilization."1 

ST.  MAXIMIN2 

The  cement,  without  which  there  can  be  no  stability  of  the  walls,  is  made 
of  lime,  sand,  and  water.  The  lime  is  fervent  charity  which  joineth  to  itself 
the  sand — that  is,  undertakings  for  the  temporal  welfare  of  our  brethren. 

1  "Sur  cette  terre  elegante,  au  dessin  si  precis  et  si  pur,  sous  cette  lumiere  penetrante, 
sur  ces  champs  rouges  ou  1'ovilier  verse  son  ombre  fine  et  grise,  sur  ces  bords  que  la 
mer  antique  bat  de  sa  not  court  et  rythme,  subsistent  des  oeuvres  et  des  souvenirs 
qui  ne  depareraient  pas   la  Grece  elle-meme,  mere  de  toute  beaute.     Le  Pont  du 
Gard,  la  Maison  Carree,  les  Arenes  de  Nimes  et  d'Arles,  Saint  Trophime,  Montmajour, 
Les  Saintes-Maries,  Les  Baux,  le  Chateau  des  Papes  a  Avignon,  les  remparts  de  Saint 
Louis  a  Aigues-Mortes,  le  Peyrou  a  Montpellier,  le  canal  du  Midi,  sont  les  monuments 
de  cette  activite  seculaire  qui  recueillit  I'heritage  de  Rome,  et  1'entretint  tout  le  long 
de  cette  vallee  du  Rhone  qui,  a  ses  deux  extremites,  comme  deux  phares,  porte  deux 
villes,  deux  republiques  qui  n'ont  rien  de  superieur  par  1'antiquite,  1'activite,  et  1'eclat: 
Lyon  et  Marseilles." — GABRIEL  HANOTAUX. 

2  L.  Rostan,  Monographic  du  convent  de  St.  Maximin,   1874;    Abbe  Albanes,  Le 
convent  royal  de  St.  Maximin;    Monseigneur  Duchesne,  "  La  legende  de  Ste.  Marie 
Madeleine,"  in  Annales  du  Midi,  1893,  vol.  5;   L.  G.  Pelissier,  La  Provence  (Regions 
de  la  France),  (Paris,  L.  Cerf). 

400 


GOTHIC   IN   THE   MIDI 

Now  the  lime  and  the  sand  are  bound  together  in  the  wall  by  an  admixture 
of  water.  Water  is  the  emblem  of  the  Spirit.  And  as  without  cement  the 
stones  cannot  cohere,  so  neither  can  man  be  built  up  in  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem  without  that  charity  which  the  Holy  Ghost  worketh  in  them. 
The  stones  are  built  by  the  hands  of  the  Great  Workman  into  an  abiding 
place  in  the  Church:  whereof  some  are  borne  and  bear  nothing,  as  the 
weaker  members;  some  are  both  borne  and  bear,  as  those  of  moderate 
strength;  and  some  bear  and  are  borne  of  none  save  Christ  the  Corner 
Stone.  All  are  bound  together  by  one  spirit  of  Charity  as  though  fastened 
with  cement,  and  these  living  stones  are  put  together  in  the  bonds  of  peace. 
— BISHOP  GUILLAUME  DuKANous  of  Mende  (1220-96),  Rationale.1 

The  bourg  and  church  of  St.  Maximin  lie  about  thirty 
miles  east  of  Aix-en-Provence.  Some  rich  Gallo-Roman 
noble  of  the  V  or  VI  century  had  his  estate  here,  thinks 
Monseigneur  Duchesne,  on  which  he  built  a  funereal  chapel 
and  crypt  according  to  custom.  That  crypt  with  its  early 
Christian  sarcophagi  is  now  under  the  church  of  St.  Maximin, 
though  why  that  saint  is  honored  in  the  locality  is  not  known. 
The  first  record  of  the  site  occurred  when  the  estate  was 
passed  over  to  the  monks  of  St.  Victor's  at  Marseilles,  who 
built  a  priory  here  (1038),  and  chose  Maximinus  as  its  tutelary. 
It  was  only  when  some  fertile  brain,  in  Vezelay,  said  that 
St.  Maximinus  was  one  of  the  Lord's  seventy-two  disciples, 
and  had  accompanied  Mary  Magdalene  to  Provence,  that 
Aix-en-Provence  began  to  claim  him  as  her  first  bishop. 
For  two  centuries  Provence  allowed  Vezelay  to  boast  of  the 
possession  of  the  Blessed  Magdalene's  remains.  During 
Saracen  inroads  she  had  lost  the  relics  of  Lazarus  and  his 
sister,  so  the  Burgundian  church  told  her.  Finally — we  are 
quoting  Monseigneur  Duchesne,  not  a  Midi  savant — a 
patriotic  Provencal  whose  mind  was  as  fertile  in  inventions 
as  the  chronicler  at  Vezelay,  arranged  a  rediscovery  in  1279, 
in  the  crypt  of  St.  Maximin,  of  the  Magdalene's  relics,  where- 
upon the  pilgrimages  to  Vezelay  ceased. 

Before  witnesses  and  the  ruler  of  Provence,  Charles  II 
d'Anjou  (nephew  of  St.  Louis),  was  opened  one  of  the  sculp- 
tured tombs  in  the  Gallo-Roman  noble's  funeral  crypt  now 

1  Rationale  divinorum  officiorum,  translated  by  Neale  and  Webb  (Camden  Society) 
as  The  Symbolism  of  Churches  and  Church  Ornament  (Leedes,  Green,  1843). 

401 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

under  the  nave  of  St.  Maximin.  In  the  sarcophagus  was 
found  a  manuscript,  in  a  wooden  coffer,  relating  that  in  the 
year  of  the  Incarnation,  716,  on  December  6th,  under  King 
Odoin,  the  body  of  Mary  Magdalene  had  been  moved  from 
its  alabaster  tomb,  in  this  same  crypt,  to  the  plainer  tomb 
of  St.  Sidonius,  in  order  to  save  it  from  those  felons,  the 
Saracens.  The  uncritical  mind  of  the  age  accepted  the  obvious 
forgery  as  genuine.  It  was  worded  in  XHI-century,  not  VIII- 
century  Latin,  the  use  of  the  term  Incarnation  for  dating  was 
an  anachronism,  and  no  such  king  as  Odoin  ever  existed. 
Why  should  it  have  been  expected  that  Saracens  would 
spare  one  tomb  more  than  the  other,  asks  the  courageous 
Monseigneur  Duchesne.  But  why  feel  too  critical  of  the 
pious  fraud,  since  the  genuine  enthusiasm  it  aroused  led  to 
the  building  of  the  most  imposing  Gothic  church  in  Provence 
and  the  one  most  pure  in  style,  an  edifice  that  inspired  the 
imposing  modern  church  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  at  Marseilles. 
In  1295  Charles  II  d'Anjou1  (1285-1309)  began  St.  Maximin, 
which  he  passed  into  the  care  of  the  Dominicans.  Abbe 
Albanes  has  discovered  that  the  architect's  name  was  Jean 
Bandier.  During  two  centuries  the  Angevin  rulers  of  Provence 
continued  the  church,  and  good  King  Rene  finished  it  before 
he  died  in  1480.  As  the  first  plans  were  adhered  to,  the  edifice 
possesses  unity  save  for  a  few  Flamboyant  windows  in  the 
aisles.  Those  side  aisles  of  St.  Maximin  are  almost  as  high  as 
the  central  vessel;  they  braced  the  main  span  and  did  away 
with  the  need  of  flying  buttresses.  Traits  of  Midi  Gothic  are 
the  exceedingly  narrow  windows,  the  lack  of  a  triforium,  and 
uncut  bands  for  capitals,  though  the  omission  of  sculpture  may 
be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  abbatial  belonged  to  a  mendicant 
Order,  vowed  to  poverty.  St.  Maximin's  piers  soar  majestic- 
ally from  pavement  to  vault  springing,  nor  has  nobility  of 
proportion  been  sacrificed  in  its  severe  granite  interior. 

1  His  son,  St.  Louis  d'Anjou,  died  archbishop  of  Toulouse,  having  resigned  his  heir- 
ships  after  captive  years  in  Spain  proved  to  him  the  futility  of  grandeur.  Giotto 
painted  him  on  the  walls  of  Santa  Croce,  Florence.  His  chasuble,  a  masterpiece  of 
embroidery,  was  preserved  by  the  solid  wardrobes  of  St.  Maximin's  XlV-century 

sacristy. 

402 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

AIX-EN-PROVENCE1 

Le  d^sordre  des  malheureux  est  toujours  le  crime  de  la  dilret6  des 
riches. — VAUVENAKGUES  (1715-47;  born  in  Aix-en-Provence). 

The  cathedral  of  St.  Sauveur  is  a  composite  edifice  needing 
skilled  archaeologists  to  decipher  it.  Its  semicircular  apse, 
without  ambulatory  or  chapels,  was  begun  by  Bishop  Rostan 
de  Noves.  Its  nave,  of  the  XIV  century  (with  typical  cap- 
itals whose  foliage  is  disposed  in  two  bands),  shows  vestiges 
of  a  far  more  ancient  church.  The  nave's  north  aisle  is  neo- 
classic.  The  south  aisle,  called  Corpus  Domini,  is  Roman- 
esque, and  was  held  to  be  the  ancient  cathedral,  since  it  con- 
forms to  the  classic  type  of  the  regional  Romanesque  school, 
such  as  the  Dom  at  Avignon. 

M.  Labande  has  demonstrated  that  this  pre-Gothic  portion 
of  Aix  Cathedral  was  originally  a  church  for  the  laity,  built 
between  1150  and  1180  and  dedicated  to  St.  Maximinus, 
and  that  it  was  planted  along  the  side  of  a  church  for  the 
canons,  dedicated  to  Notre  Dame  in  1108.  Vestiges  of 
this  latter  church  are  the  ancient  parts  in  the  actual  nave  of 
St.  Sauveur. 

The  Corpus  Domini  has  its  own  sculptured  doorway,  and 
three  bays  covered  by  a  barrel  vault  carried  on  pointed 
arches.  Over  the  fourth  bay  is  a  shallow  cupola  ridged  with 
eight  pilasters  in  a  manner  inherited  from  ancient  Rome. 
Classic,  too,  are  the  columns  now  arranged  to  form  a  baptistry. 

Aix  was  the  capital  in  Provence  of  the  art-loving  Anjou 
princes  of  the  Capetian  line.  Under  them  in  1476  was  begun 
St.  Sauveur's  beautifully  restrained  Flamboyant  Gothic 
fac.ade.and  tower.  In  the  nave  is  a  stone  reredos  of  1470 
called  the  Tarasque,  from  the  dragon  of  St.  Martha  represented 

1  L.  H.  Labande,  "  St.  Sauveur  d'Aix-en-Provence,"  in  Bulletin  archeological  du 
comite  des  travaux  historiques  et  scientifiques  (Paris,  1912),  p.  289;  Abbe  E.  F.  Maurin, 
Notice  historique  et  description  de  Veglise  metropolitaine  St.  Sauveur  d'Aix  (Aix-en- 
Provence,  1837);  Prosper  de  St.  Paul,  "  La  cathedrale  d'Aix-en-Provence,"  in  Bulletin 
Monumental,  1875,  vol.  41,  p.  442;  J.  Ch.  Roux,  Aix-en-Provence  (Paris,  Bloud  et 
Cie,  1907);  L.  Dimier,  Les  primitifs  fran^ais  (Collection,  Les  Grands  Artistes), 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens). 

403 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

in  it,  and  under  King  Rene's  inspiration  was  made  the  splendid 
triptych  of  the  Burning  Bush  by  the  French  primitif,  Nicolas 
Froment,  born  in  Avignon,  but  impregnated  with  the  Flemish 
spirit  of  Van  Eyck.  King  Rene  kneels  in  one  panel,  and  his 
second  wife,  Jeanne  de  Laval,  in  the  other;  the  outer  side  of 
the  folding  panels  is  painted  in  grisaille.  The  Burning  Bush 
was  taken  as  a  symbol  of  the  Virgin's  integrity.  The  carved 
doors  at  the  west  entrance  of  St.  Sauveur,  rich  with  prophets 
and  sibyls,  are  ranked  with  the  noted  doors  of  Beauvais 
and  Rouen. 

While  the  church  of  St.  Maximinus,  or  the  present  south 
aisle  of  St.  Sauveur,  was  building,  a  student  at  the  University 
of  Aix,  across  the  way  from  its  cathedral,  was  St.  Jean  de 
Matha  (1156-1213),  one  of  those  good  men  of  history  who 
accomplished  a  great  work  but  are  overlooked  by  posterity. 
In  Aix  he  passed  his  leisure  waiting  on  the  poverty-stricken 
sick.  Then  he  went  up  to  the  Paris  schools  to  perfect  him- 
self in  theology,  and  good  Bishop  Maurice  de  Sully,  then 
building  Notre  Dame,  became  interested  in  him,  and  with 
the  prior  of  St.  Victor's,  after  attending  the  young  Midi 
noble's  first  Mass,  prophesied  that  this  was  a  soul  chosen  of 
God.  Because  Jean  de  Matha  had  been  born  in  the  south, 
a  witness  of  Islam's  piracies,  he  vowed  himself  at  his  first 
Mass  to  the  redemption  of  Christian  captives.  His  fellow 
student  at  Paris,  Innocent  III,  approved  the  new  Trinitarian 
Order  called  popularly  Maturins  because  their  Paris  house 
was  dedicated  to  St.  Maturin.  So  rapidly  did  it  spread  that 
before  long  it  had  fifty  houses  in  far-off  Ireland,  and  as  many 
in  England.  In  its  annals  are  the  names  of  all  the  western 
nations.  Jean  de  Matha,  until  his  death,  passed  backward 
and  forward  to  Africa.  When  the  first  boatload  of  redeemed 
captives  landed  at  Marseilles  a  cry  of  thanksgiving  rose  in 
Christendom.  Sometimes  a  brother  of  the  Order  would 
remain  in  a  captive's  place,  when  his  funds  for  ransoming 
prisoners  gave  out.  In  Granada,  Maturins  were  martyred. 
In  the  year  1260  five  thousand  Christians  were  redeemed  from 
Islam  prisons  by  these  devoted  men.  And  for  five  centuries 

404 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

the  good  work  went  on,  so  that  we  hear  of  Trinitarians  freeing 
Christians  from  Mohammedans  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV. 
Cervantes  was  released  from  African  captivity  by  the  sons 
of  St.  Jean  de  Matha,  else  we  would  have  no  Don  Quixote. 
All  through  the  dark  episodes  of  the  Albigensian  wars  these 
lives  of  unobtrusive  Christian  charity  endured.  Their  deeds 
have  not  been  trumpeted  to  the  winds.  I  dare  say  the 
historian  who  rings  the  changes  on  the  Tuez-les-tous  phrase 
never  heard  of  St.  Jean  and  his  Maturins. 

AVIGNON  i 

In  abandoning  Rome,  their  cradle,  in  departing  from  the  venerated  tomb 
of  the  Prince  of  the  Apostle,  in  ceasing  to  reign  on  the  site  consecrated  by 
the  blood  of  martyrs,  the  popes  failed  to  value  the  prop  those  august 
memories  were  for  them.  In  their  voluntary  exile  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rhone  the  popes  were  controlled  by  the  king  of  France.  Villeneuve's  high 
towers,  a  French  stronghold,  threw  too  protective  a  shadow  over  the  papal 
palace  of  Avignon. — L.  SALEMBIEB. 

Architecturally  Avignon  does  not  fit  into  our  catagory, 
but  who  can  close  a  chapter  on  the  Midi  and  not  mention, 
among  gems,  this  diamond?  There  is  no  more  imposing,  no 
more  magnificent  a  palace  in  the  world  than  that  of  the 
XlV-century  popes  at  Avignon. 

Romanesque  architecture  is  represented  by  the  Dom  and 
the  bridge  built  by  freres-pontifes  over  the  Rhone  (1177-85) 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1882;  1897,  p.  113;  and  1909,  L.  H.  Labande;  Andre  Hal- 
lays,  Avignon  et  le  Comtat-Venaissin  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H. 
Laurens);  F.  Digonnet,  Le  palais  des  papes  d' Avignon  (after  R.  P.  Ehrle,  S.  J.),  1907; 
L.  Duhamel,  Les  origines  du  palais  des  papes  d' Avignon  (Tours,  1882);  L.  H.  Labande, 
"  L'eglise  de  N.-D.-des-Doms  a  Avignon,"  in  Bulletin  Archeologique,  1906;  A.  Penjon, 
Avignon  la  ville,  et  le  palais  des  papes  (1905);  Leon  Palustre,  "  Les  peintures  du  palais 
des  papes  a  Avignon,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1874,  vol.  40,  p.  665;  Eugene  Miintz, 
"  Les  tombeaux  des  papes  en  France,"  in  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1887,  vol.  36,  pp. 
275,  367;  ibid.,  "  Les  sources  de  Fhistoire  des  arts  dans  la  ville  d' Avignon  pendant 
le  XIVe  siecle,"  in  Bulletin  Archeologique,  1887,  p.  249;  Verlaque,  Jean  XXII,  sa 
vie,  ses  ceuvres  (Paris,  1883);  Robert  Andre-Michel,  "  Les  fresques  de  la  garde-robe 
au  palais  des  papes  a  Avignon,"  in  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1914-16,  vol.  56,  p.  293. 
(This  study  of  the  frescoes,  discovered  in  1909,  was  the  author's  last  work.  He  fell 
in  battle  at  Crouy-sur-Ourcq  in  1914);  Louis  Guerard,  R.  P.,  Les  papes  d' Avignon 
(Paris,  Lecoffre,  1910);  Jean  Guiraud,  L'eglise  et  les  origines  de  la  Renaissance  (chap. 
2,  on  the  Avignon  popes).  (Paris,  Lecoffre,  1902). 

405 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

under  the  Inspiration  of  the  shepherd  boy  St.  Benezet.  Many 
a  time  has  the  river  carried  away  its  bays.  The  chapel  on 
the  bridge  shows  the  work  of  three  epochs,  part  being  of 
Little  Benedict's  time,  part  of  1234,  and  an  apse  of  1513. 

Notre  Dame-des-Dom,  as  it  was  first  built,  belonged  to 
the  usual  type  of  a  Midi  Romanesque  church  (1140-60),  but 
to  it  have  been  added  chapels  and  neo-classic  decorations.1 
The  west  porch  of  the  cathedral  can  claim  to  be  one  of  the 
first  conscious  revivals  of  classic  art  in  France,  inspired  by 
a  Roman  triumphal  arch  in  neighboring  Carpentras.  Orig- 
inally the  inner  walls  of  the  porch  were  frescoed  by  Simone 
Martini  of  Siena,  a  friend  of  Petrarch.  That  humanist  spent 
many  years  in  Avignon,  and  it  was  at  the  door  of  the  church 
of  St.  Clara  that  he  first  saw  Laura,  in  1327.  If  the  Avignon 
popes  employed  Italian  painters,  their  architects  and  sculptors 
were  mainly  local. 

Avignon's  great  day  was  under  the  seven  Roman  pontiffs 
who  lived  here  in  succession  during  sixty-eight  years,  a  period 
disastrous  to  the  interests  and  prestige  of  the  Church,  but 
fecund  for  the  art  life  of  southern  France.  All  seven  of  the 
popes  were  meridionals. 

Clement  V  (1305-13),  whom  the  patriotic  Italian  poet 
places  in  hell  for  his  subservience  to  the  French  king,  was 
the  first  to  take  up  his  residence  in  Avignon,  but  his  building 
enterprises  were  elsewhere,  at  Bordeaux  and  St.  Bertrand- 
de-Comminges,  and  he  chose  to  be  buried  near  Bordeaux, 
at  Uzeste,  his  native  place,  where  his  tomb  was  mutilated 
in  1577.  Clement  is  pictured  on  the  walls  of  the  Spanish 
chapel  in  Santa  Maria  Novella  at  Florence.  Neither  his 


1  While  the  popes  ruled  in  Avignon,  churches  rose  from  end  to  end  of  the  city.  In 
St.  Didier  (XIV  century)  is  the  bas-relief  N.  D.-du-spasme  made  for  King  Rene  in 
1476  by  Francisco  Laurana,  one  of  the  earliest  Renaissance  sculptors  to  work  in 
France.  He  made  the  tomb  for  King  Rene's  brother  in  Le  Mans  Cathedral.  The 
Gothic-Renaissance  facade  (1512)  of  St.  Pierre  is  of  singular  grace;  the  date  of  its 
carved  doors  is  1551.  There  is  a  XV-century  pulpit,  and  a  retablo  (1461)  by  Antoine 
Le  Moiturier,  born  in  Avignon,  who  finished  the  celebrated  tomb  of  Jean  Sans 
Peur  now  in  Dijon's  Museum.  Congres  Archeologique,  1909,  p.  17;  A.  Chaillot,  Les 
centres  d'art  dans  les  eglises  et  chapelles  d' Avignon;  G.  Bayle,  Notes  historiques  sur 
Veglise  de  St.  Pierre  d' Avignon  (Avignon,  1899). 

406 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

statue  at  the  chief  portal  of  Bordeaux  Cathedral  nor  his 
effigy  on  his  tomb  is  a  portrait. 

After  an  interval  he  was  succeeded  by  John  XXII  (1316-33), 
born  in  Cahors,  where  a  tower  of  his  palace  still  stands,  as 
well  as  the  most  beautiful  bridge  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which 
he  helped  to  build.  John  had  been  educated  at  Cahors, 
Montpellier,  and  Paris;  he  had  taught  law  at  Toulouse,  and 
from  1310  was  bishop  of  Avignon,  so  that  he  made  it  his 
permanent  residence  when  elected  to  the  papacy  at  seventy- 
two.  John  was  an  organizer  of  genius;  he  founded  Perugia 
University  and  reformed  those  of  Paris,  Cambridge,  and 
Oxford.  The  great  treasure  he  left  was  the  fund  drawn  on 
by  his  successors  for  the  erection  of  their  palace.  His  tomb 
in  the  cathedral  of  Avignon  is  like  an  immense  reliquary, 
excessive  lace  stonework  and  pinnacles,  though  if  some  of 
the  sixty  statues  that  once  embellished  it  remained,  there 
would  naturally  be  more  character  in  the  ornamentation. 
The  tomb  has  recently  been  claimed  as  a  late-Gothic  west-of- 
England  work,  similar  to  monuments  at  Exeter  and  Tewksbury. 

His  successor,  Benedict  XII  (1333-42),  was  the  pope  who 
really  began  the  Avignon  palace  which  was  to  be  completed 
in  twenty-five  years.  While  abbot  of  Cistercian  Fontfroide, 
he  had  watched  Narbonne's  episcopal  palace  rising,  and  there 
are  decided  likenesses  between  it  and  the  papal  residence 
on  the  Rhone.  Both  were  fortresses  eminently  of  the  Midi, 
not  of  Italy.  Of  Benedict  it  is  related  that  when  his  father, 
a  baker  in  the  comte  of  Foix,  came  to  visit  him,  dressed  richly 
by  courtiers  who  thought  to  save  the  pope's  amour  propre, 
the  pope  declined  to  recognize  him  till  he  garbed  himself 
humbly.  His  was  a  complex  character.  He  spent  vast 
sums  lavishly  on  his  palace,  bringing  artists  from  Italy  to 
decorate  its  walls  and  ceilings.  His  tomb,  that  had  resembled 
his  predecessor's,  exists  only  in  a  few  arcades  housed  in  the 
Musee  Calvert.  The  tomb  called  his  in  the  cathedral  is  a 
composite  affair.  There  is  a  statue  of  Benedict  XII  in  the 
crypt  of  the  Vatican. 

The  next  pontiff,  Clement  VI  (1342-52),  a  Limousin  lord 

407 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

of  great  lineage,  more  knight  than  churchman,  made  the 
most  beautiful  parts  of  the  papal  palace,  the  conclave  gallery, 
the  Audience  Chamber,  the  Pontifical  Chapel  over  it,  and  the 
tower  called  St.  Jeane  whose  chapels,  sotto  and  sopra,  were 
decorated  by  Martini.  Petrarch  had  praised  Clement  for  his 
liberality  toward  the  Jews,  who,  driven  out  of  other  coun- 
tries, found  a  home  here,  "povres  Juifs  ars  et  escaces  par  tout 
le  monde  excepte  en  la  terre  d'figlise  dessous  les  clefs  des  papes." 
For  his  burial  Clement  VI  rebuilt,  in  the  Forez  mountains, 
the  church  of  his  former  abbey,  La  Chaise  Dieu,  in  the  center 
of  whose  choir  he  placed  his  own  sumptuous  monument, 
whose  forty-four  statuettes  represented  his  great  relatives. 
In  the  religious  wars  of  the  XVI  century  the  mausoleum 
was  sacked  and  only  the  pontiff's  marble  effigy  now  remains. 

Clement  VI  purchased  the  city  of  Avignon  from  Queen 
Joanna  of  Naples  of  the  Anjou  house.  The  Comtat-Venaissin, 
but  not  Avignon,  formed  part  of  the  possessions  that  fell  to 
the  French  Crown  on  the  death  of  Alphonse  of  Poitiers  and 
his  wife  in  1271.  Philippe  III  gave  it  to  the  popes,  to  whom 
it  had  been  promised  by  the  last  count  of  Toulouse. 

The  papal  palace  was  finished  by  Innocent  VI  (1352-62), 
another  Limousin.  He  made  the  tower  applied  to  the  south 
wall  of  audience  hall  and  church,  and  he  added  to  the  city's 
fortifications.  Across  the  Rhone  he  began  the  Chartreuse, 
later  called  Val  de  Benediction,  a  vast  structure  carried  on 
by  his  family  as  a  hereditary  obligation.1  To-day  it  is  a 
mass  of  desolate  ruins,  and  the  pope's  mutilated  tomb  is  now 
housed  in  the  hospice  at  Villeneuve-les-Avignon. 

Urban  V  (1362-70),  "moult  saint  homme  et  de  belle  vie,"  says 
Froissart,  was  a  patron  for  art  and  letters  throughout  the 
Midi.  At  Avignon  he  continued  the  fortifications.  His  work 
is  to  be  found  in  Montpellier  Cathedral,  also  at  Mende, 
St.  Flour,  and  Marseilles,  where  his  mausoleum  towers  in  St. 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1897,  p.  280;  and  1909,  p.  144,  Villeneuve-les-Avignon; 
Jules  Formige,  Rapport  sur  la  Chartreuse  de  Villeneuve-les-Avignon  (Card),  (Paris, 
1909);  Robert  Andre-Michel,  "  Le  tombeau  du  Pope  Innocent  VI  a  Villeneuve-les- 
Avignon,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1911,  p.  204. 

408 


GOTHIC  IN  THE  MIDI 

Victor's  abbatial.  His  attempt  to  re-establish  the  papacy  in 
Rome  failed,  but  his  successor,  Gregory  XI — Count  Roger 
de  Beaufort,  a  nephew  of  Clement  VI — went  back  definitely 
in  1177  to  the  Holy  City,  where  a  bas-relief  on  his  tomb,  in 
Santa  Francesca  Romana,  records  his  triumphal  entrance. 
The  consequences  of  the  long  exile  were  deplorable.  Imme- 
diately came  the  Great  Schism  of  the  West,  during  which 
some  of  the  doubtful  pontiffs  resided  at  Avignon. 

After  their  return  to  Rome  the  popes  governed  their  small 
Midi  principality  by  viceroys  till  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
it  passed  to  France.  The  palace  was  turned  into  a  prison  and 
barracks;  when  a  local  antiquarian  society  begged  that  they 
might  be  allowed  to  preserve  the  precious  frescoes  of  Simone 
Martini  in  the  chapels  of  Clement  VI,  the  military  governor 
replied  that  such  notions  were  contrary  to  military  custom. 
Happily  the  Palace  of  the  Popes  is  now  a  national  monument, 
and  its  judiciously  accomplished  renovation  is  one  of  those 
restorals  against  which  no  one  can  cavil. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Gothic  Art  of  Burgundy  l 

Be  strong  in  humility  and  humble  in  authority: 
Be  austere  in  tenderness  and  tender  in  austerity: 
Be  amiable  in  sorrow  and  grave  in  prosperity. 

— ST.  COLUMBANUS'  Antitheses. 

URGUNDY,  "a  country  placed  on  Europe's 
highways,"  was  a  land  of  monasteries.  They 
dotted  the  fertile  province.  There  were  "pro- 
digious Cluny,"  and  Vezelay  "the  superb," 
scenes  of  historic  gatherings;  at  Auxerre  was 
St.  Germain's  monastery;  at  Dijon,  the  abbey  of  St.  Benigne, 
pioneer  in  the  Romanesque  renaissance  of  the  region.  There 
were  Citeaux,  the  mother  house  of  missions  over  the  entire 
Christian  world,  Pontigny,  that  harbored  three  archbishops  of 
Canterbury,  Fontenay  with  its  industrial  forge,  Tournus, 
Saulieu,  Paray-le-Monial,  and  Flavigny,  that  reminded 
Chateaubriand  of  Jerusalem  set  on  its  hill.  Up  and  down 
the  land  the  laus  perennis  never  ceased. 

On  the  confines  of  the  old  kingdom  of  Burgundy,  as  the  VI 
century  closed,  St.  Columbanus  founded  at  Luxeuil,  between 
the  sources  of  the  Moselle  and  the  Saone,  an  abbey  which 

1  Congrts  Archeologique,  1907  and  1913;  A.  Kleinclausz,  La  Bourgogne  (Collection, 
Regions  de  la  France),  (Paris,  L.  Cerf,  1905);  ibid.,  Histoire  de  Bourgogne  (Paris, 
1909);  Dom.  Urbain  Plancher,  Histoire  generate  de  Bourgogne  (1739-81),  4  vols.; 
Claude  Courtepee,  Description  du  duche  de  Bourgogne  (1775-85) ;  De  Barente,  Histoire 
des  dues  de  Bourgogne  de  la  maison  de  Valois  (Paris,  1825),  12  vols.;  Ernest  Petit, 
Histoire  des  dues  de  Bourgogne  de  la  race  capetienne  (Dijon,  1905),  9  vols.;  A.  de 
Caumont,  "  Rapport  sur  une  excursion  archeol.  en  Bourgogne,"  in  Bulletin  Monu- 
mental, 1852,  vol.  18,  p.  225;  J.  Calmette  et  H.  Drouot,  La  Bourgogne  (Collection, 
Provinces  Franchises),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  A.  Perrault-Dabot,  L'art  en  Bourgogne 
(1897);  J.  L.  Bazin,  "La  Bourgogne  sous  les  dues  de  la  maison  de  Valois,  1361-1478," 
in  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  fiduenne,  1901,  vol.  29,  p.  33;  Taylor  et  Nodier,  Voyages  pitto- 
resques  et  romantiques  dans  Vancienne  France,  La  Bourgogne  (Paris,  Didot,  1863),  2  vols., 
folio;  W.  S.  Purchon,  "  An  architectural  Tour  in  Central  France  and  Burgundy," 
in  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  1913-14,  3d  series,  vol.  21,  p.  557. 

410 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

was  to  mold  the  religious  life  of  the  VII  century,  most  fertile 
of  epochs  in  the  number  and  fervor  of  its  religious  institutions. 
Luxeuil  became  the  popular  school  of  Gaul,  the  mother  house 
of  hundreds  of  monasteries.  Her  monks  filled  the  sees  of 
France.  The  Celtic  Rule  was  harsh,  a  compound  of  the 
Orient,  of  Lerens,  and  of  Bangor  in  Ireland;  even  on  feast 
days  fish  was  a  luxury.  It  was  only  the  personal  genius  of 
the  impetuous  Irish  missionary  that  caused  it  to  be  accepted 
for  a  few  generations;  then  as  the  VII  century  closed,  the 
Benedictine  Rule  which  conformed  better  to  human  limita- 
tions superseded  the  Columban.  "Where  Columbanus  sowed, 
Benedict  reaped."1 

Three  hundred  years  later  there  rose  in  Burgundy  the 
most  splendid  monastic  institution  that  Christendom  has 
ever  known,  Benedictine  Cluny,  that  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  the  reforming  popes  in  their  fight  for  the  purification 
of  the  Church.2  Cluny  initiated  the  Truce  of  God,  the  peace 
movement  of  the  XI  century  that  permitted  the  art  renais- 


1  From  Luxeuil  derived  Jumieges,  St.  Wandrille,  Fecamp,  St.  Malo,  St.  Valery, 
St.  Bertin,  Corbie,  St.  Riquier,  Peronne,  Lure,  Rebais,  Jouarre,  Faremoutier,  Remire- 
mont,  Dissentir,  St.  Gall,  and  Bobbio.     St.  Columbanus  was  born  in  Leinster  in  543, 
the  year  that  St.  Benedict  died  at  Monte  Cassino.     It  is  said  that  there  was  something 
supernatural  in  his  appearance.     Because  of  his  comeliness  he  embraced  the  monastic 
life  to  flee  temptation,  entering  the  abbey  of  Bangor,  a  center  of  letters  in  what  is 
now  Ulster.     All  his  life  Columbanus  was  a  lover  of  the  classics;    from  his  library 
at  Bobbio  was  recovered  Cicero's  De  Republica.     At  thirty  came  the  call  to  missionize 
in  Gaul.     Ireland,  on  the  outer  verge  of  Europe,  had  escaped  the  Barbarian's  wreck- 
ing so  that  her  culture  was  intact.     With  twelve  monks,  among  them  his  nephew, 
St.  Gall  (future  founder  of  the  noted  Swiss  abbey),  Columbanus  crossed  to  France. 
The  king  of  Burgundy,  a  grandson  of  Clovis,  gave  him  the  region  of  Luxeuil,  which 
the  late  invasions  had  turned  into  a  desert.     In  twenty  years  Columbanus  made  it 
the  center  of  spiritual  life  in  Gaul.     He  was  exiled  in  610  because  of  his  strictures  on 
the  evil  living  of  Burgundy's  rulers.     After  many  wanderings  he  founded  Bobbio, 
between  Genoa  and  Milan,  which  abbey  became  another  seat  of  learning.     There 
he  died  in  615.     Martin,  St.  Columban   (Collection,  Les  Saints),   (Paris,  Lecoffre, 
1909);    Healy,  Ireland's  Ancient  Schools  and  Scholars  (Dublin,  1890);    Ch.  de  Mon- 
talembert,   Monks  of  the  West  (translated,  London,   1896);    Dalgairns,  Apostles  of 
Europe  (London,  1876),  vol.  1;  Besse,  Les  moines  de  I'ancienne  France  (Paris,  1906). 

2  "  On  peut  dire  que  vers  le  Xe  siecle,  le  genre  humain  en  Europe,  etait  devenu  fou. 
Du  melange  de  la,  corruption  romaine  avec  le  ferocite  des  barbares  qui  avaient  inonde 
1'empire,  il  etait  enfin  resulte  un  etat  de  choses  que,  heureusement  peut-etre,  on  ne 
reverra  plus.     La  ferocite  et  la  debauche,  1'anarchie  et  la  pauvrete  etaient  dans  tous 
les  etats.     Jamais  1'ignorance  ne  fut  plus  universclle.     Le  chaire  pontificale  etait 
opprimee,  deshonoree,  et  sanglante." — JOSEPH  DE  MAISTRE. 

411 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

sance  which  was  to  culminate  in  the  Gothic  cathedrals.  Peace 
meant  an  unmolested  commerce,  peace  meant  city  charters 
and  stable  laws.  A  reformed  clergy  meant  the  renewal  of 
the  people's  love  of  the  altar,  and  their  generous  contribu- 
tions toward  the  erection  of  churches.  With  Cluny  as  leader 
there  was  then  formulated  the  architecture  which  was  a 
stepping  stone  to  a  greater  system. 

Two  hundred  years  after  Cluny's  foundation,  Burgundy 
again  gave  birth  to  a  monastic  movement  which  was  to  carry 
to  the  ends  of  Europe  the  Gothic  system  of  building.  Citeaux, 
in  the  extent  of  its  conquests  and  its  centralized  administra- 
tion, has  been  compared  with  the  Roman  Empire.  Cis- 
tercian monks  carried  Burgundian  Gothic  to  Spain,  to  Italy, 
to  Greece,  to  England,  Germany,  and  Scandinavia.  Owing 
to  the  conditions  of  society  and  of  the  episcopacy,  the  cloister 
then  was  chief  patron  of  art.  Simony  infected  the  bishoprics 
and  it  is  not  under  unworthy  prelates  that  churches  are  reared. 
Gregory  VII,  Cluny,  that  supplied  him  with  his  army  of 
reformers,  and  St.  Bernard,  with  his  white-cowled  brethren, 
warred  unceasingly  on  simony,  concubinage,  and  investiture 
(the  tormenting  question  of  layman  control  of  churchmen). 
And  since  it  was  monasteries  that  fought  that  battle  of  regen- 
eration, monastic  churches  and  not  cathedrals  were  the  first 
tangible  proof  of  the  ethical  rebirth  of  Europe.  A  la  peine 
.  .  .  d  Vhonneur.  When  the  reform  achieved  by  Cluny  and 
Citeaux  had  filled  the  sees  with  worthy  bishops,  then  were 
built  the  great  cathedrals. 

We  have  seen  how  the  problem  of  roofing  churches  in 
stone  caused  the  evolution  from  Romanesque  to  Gothic  art. 
Burgundy's  struggle  to  achieve  a  permanent  stone  roof  was 
bolder  than  that  of  other  regional  schools  in  France,  and 
perhaps  it  was  overhardy,  since  her  abbatials,  in  Gothic 
times,  had  to  be  buttressed  to  keep  them  standing.  Though 
the  Burgundian  discarded  too  early  the  Romanesque  prin- 
ciple of  equilibrium  by  dead  load,  his  temerity  was  a  step  for- 
ward in  the  march  toward  new  principles  of  construction. 
These  monks  on  Europe's  highway  made  churches  of  ample 

412 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

width  and  height,  and,  rather  than  sacrifice  their  proper 
lighting,  opened  windows  in  the  upper  walls  of  the  central 
vessel.  However,  they  must  have  felt  that  their  clearstory 
windows  were  an  experiment,  for  they  essayed,  occasionally, 
an  embryo  flying  buttress,  keeping  it  hidden  under  the  lean- 
to  roof  of  the  aisles. 

The  militant  Romanesque  school  of  Burgundy  was  too 
well  developed  for  it  to  bow  instantly  before  the  new  art. 
Not  here  did  the  generating  member  of  Gothic  architecture 
first  come  into  common  usage,  but  in  that  region  of  northern 
France  whose  pre-Gothic  school  was  of  less  importance.  The 
Burgundian  clung  stubbornly  to  his  early  ways  of  building, 
and  even  after  other  provinces  had  accepted  the  ogival  style 
he  erected  thoroughly  Romanesque  churches;  St.  Philibert 
at  Dijon  is  the  contemporary  of  the  cathedrals  at  Chartres 
and  Paris.  Flying  buttresses  at  no  time  found  favor  in  Bur- 
gundy. Groin  vaults  were  persisted  in  simultaneously  with 
diagonals,  and  the  sexpartite  vault  used  long  after  the  north 
had  dropped  it.  Firm  plain  profiles  for  archivolts  and  window 
molds  were  preferred. 

Once  the  Burgundian  frankly  accepted  the  new  system,  his 
bold  genius  led  him  to  push  its  principles  to  their  limit.  Within 
the  confines  of  the  duchy  were  the  quarries  of  hard  Tonnerre 
stone  that  permitted  audacious  experiments  in  building.  He 
dared  traverse  his  exterior  buttresses  by  circulation  passages, 
he  dared  catch  his  heavily  weighted  diagonals  on  corbels 
(carved  with  original  heads),  and  to  poise  a  mass  of  material 
on  the  slenderest  of  colonnettes.  Often  he  surmounted  his 
triforium  by  a  passage  that  passed  directly  through  the  active 
wall  shafts,  as  in  cathedrals  of  Auxerre,  Nevers,  and  Semur. 
By  the  middle  of  the  XIII  century  Dijon  achieved  a  marvel  of 
Gothic  technique  in  its  church  of  Notre  Dame.  Despite  much 
notable  Gothic  work  one  is  inclined,  none  the  less,  to 
maintain  that  Burgundy  found  her  fullest  expression  in  her 
earlier  monastic  churches.  Alas,  that  the  greatest  of  them, 
Cluny,  should  to-day  be  but  the  phantom  of  its  once  colossal 
self! 

413 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

CLUNYi 

Time  will  be  ending  soon,  heaven  will  be  rending  soon,  fast  we  and  pray  we: 

Comes  the  most  merciful;  comes  the  most  terrible;  watch  we  while  may  we. 

— BERNARD  DE  MORLAIX,  "Jerusalem  the  Golden"2  (c.   1140). 

The  "mother  abbey  of  Europe"  lies  in  a  fertile  valley 
some  fifteen  miles  off  the  express  route  that  passes  through 
Macon.  The  property  was  given  to  the  monks  by  a  duke  of 
Aquitaine,  who  thus  anathematized  future  despoilers:  "I 
conjure  you  O  holy  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  to  cut  off  from 
life  eternal  all  robbers,  invaders,  or  sellers  of  that  which  I 
herewith  donate  with  full  satisfaction  and  entire  free  will." 

When  Cluny  was  founded  in  910,  the  victory  of  Christianity 
over  the  Barbarians  still  hung  in  the  balance.  It  was  Cluny 
that  weighed  down  the  scale  for  justice  and  progress,  Cluny 
that  gave  to  Rome  the  needed  reforming  popes.  Hers  should 
be  a  name  as  honored  in  humanity's  history  as  Athens:  "We 
leave  college,"  wrote  Montalembert,  "able  to  cite  the  list  of 
Jupiter's  mistresses,  but  ignorant,  even  to  their  names,  of 
the  founders  of  the  religious  Orders  that  civilized  Europe." 
And  the  testimony  of  the  Protestant  Leibnitz  is:  "Without 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1899,  p.  48;  1913,  p.  65,  Jean  Virey;  Millenaire  de  Cluny 
(Macon,  1910),  2  vols.;  Jean  Virey,  L' architecture  romane  dans  Vancien  diocese  de 
Macon  (Paris,  1892),  2  vols.;  ibid.,  L'abbaye  de  Cluny  (Collection,  Petites  Mono- 
graphics),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens) ;  Chanoine  L.  Chaumont,  Histoire  de  Cluny  (Paris,  1911); 
Migne.  Dictionnaire  des  abbayes  (Paris,  1856);  Ch.  de  Montalembert,  Monks  of  the 
West  (trans.  London,  1896);  H.  Pignot,  Histoire  de  I'ordre  de  Cluny  depuis  lafondation 
de  I'abbaye  jusqu'a  la  mort  de  Pierre  le  Venerable  (Autun  et  Paris,  1868),  3  vols.;  F.  L. 
Bruel,  Cluny,  910-1910.  Album  historique  et  archeologique  (Macon,  1910),  4to;  Ponzet, 
in  Revue  de  Vart  chretien,  1912,  on  the  capitals  of  Cluny's  abbatial;  David,  Grands 
abbayes  de  I 'accident  (Paris,  1909);  Lecestre, .  Abbayes  en  France  (Paris,  1902);  G.  T. 
Rivoira,  Lombardic  Architecture,  vol.  2,  p.  104,  Cluny;  p.  112,  Tournus.  Tr.  by  G. 
McN.  Rushforth  (London  and  New  York,  1910);  Demimuid,  Pierre  le  Venerable  et 
la  vie  monastique  au  XIle  siecle  (Paris,  1895);  A.  Penjon,  Cluny,  la  ville  et  I'abbaye 
(Cluny,  1884);  ibid.,  "  Abelard  et  Pierre  le  Venerable  d'apres  Dom  Gervaise,"  in 
Annales  de  VAcad.  de  Macon,  1910,  p.  393;  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France,  vol.  7,  p.  318, 
"  Le  bienheureux  Guillaume,  abbe  de  St.  Benigne";  p.  399,  "  Raoul  Glaber";  p. 
414,  "St.  Odilon"  (Paris,  1746);  vol.  9,  p.  465,  "St.  Hugues  ";  p.  526,  "Abbe 
Jarenton  "  (Paris,  1750);  vol.  14,  p.  211,  "  Pierre  le  Venerable  ";  p.  129,  "  St.  Ber- 
nard "  (Paris,  1764). 

2  Dr.  John  Mason  Neale,  ed.,  Rhythm  of  Bernard  of  Morlaix  (London,  1858).  Dr. 
Neale  has  here  rendered  his  translation  like  the  XH-century  original,  dactylic  hex- 
ameters divided  into  three  parts. 

414 


The  Xl-century  Sanctuary  of  Cluny  as  It  Was  until  the 
Revolution 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

monks  we  should  have  no  erudition,  for  it  is  certain  that  we 
owe  to  monasteries  the  preservation  of  letters  and  books." 
Four  of  the  best  among  the  popes  came  out  of  Cluny's  cloister: 
Gregory  VII,  Urban  II,  Paschal  II,  and  Urban  V. 

The  modern  French  school  of  mediaeval  archaeology,  delving 
into  the  past,  has  drawn  Cluny  from  its  long  oblivion.  In 
1910  was  celebrated  with  national  honors  the  millennium  of 
the  Burgundian  "abbey  of  abbeys,"  and  to  the  festival  the 
French  Academy  sent  M.  Rene  Bazin  as  its  representative 
to  voice  the  gratitude  of  French  letters  to  the  "great  Order 
of  Cluny  which  in  the  France  of  the  Middle  Ages  exercised 
in  its  plenitude  the  mission  of  civilizer,  apostle  of  the  Gospel, 
apostle  of  peace,  guardian  of  the  whole  field  of  knowledge, 
founder  then,  of  all  works  of  charity,  initiator  of  both  literary 
and  agricultural  progress,  creator  of  an  art  which  she  spread 
over  Europe." 

During  the  Middle  Ages  the  silent  Burgundian  valley  was 
a  busy  hive  of  arts  and  crafts  *  with  goldsmiths'  work,  illumi- 
nating, carving  in  ivory  and  in  stone,  foundering  of  bells,  and 
the  making  of  stained  glass.  All  that  went  toward  the  adorn- 
ment of  God's  house  was  fostered  in  Cluniac  schools,  but 
above  all  was  the  master  art  of  the  builder  honored.  In 
bands  of  twelve  the  monks  carried  not  only  the  Gospel,  but 
the  arts  to  every  part  of  Europe,  and  even  farther  afield, 
for  there  were  houses  of  the  Order  on  Mount  Tabor,  in 
Nazareth,  and  in  Bethany.  No  uniform  Cluniac  building 
lore  was  followed;  it  was  the  usual  custom  for  the  monks 
to  conform  to  the  local  traditions  in  each  different  country.2 

It  was  natural  that  the  big  abbey  church  at  Cluny  proper 
should  have  been  Burgundian  Romanesque.  Hazelon,  a 

1  "  Ah!   ce  Cluny!  .  .  .  ce  fut  vraiment  1'ideal  du  labour  divin,  1'ideal  reve!     Ce 
fut,  lui,  qui  realisa  le  couvent  d'art,  la  maison  du  luxe  pour  Dieu." — J.  K.  HUYSMANS, 
L'Oblat  (Paris,  Plon-Nourrit  et  Cie). 

2  Some  of  the  French  houses  affiliated  with  Cluny  were  Vezelay,  the  Trinite  at 
Vendome,  the  Trinite  at  Fecamp,   St.   Martin-des-Champs    and  St.  Germain-des- 
Pres  at  Paris,  St.  Denis,  the  Caen  abbatials,  St.  Oucn  at  Rouen,  Jumieges,  St.  Wan- 
drille,  St.  Remi  at  Rheims,  Notre  Dame  at  Chalons-sur-Marne,  St.  Benigne  at  Dijon, 
Tournus,  St.  Maixent,  St.  Savin,  Ste.  Foy  at  Conques,  Moissac,  St.  Sernin  at  Toulouse, 
and  St.  Eutrope  at  Saintes. 

415 


monk  of  Cluny,  was  the  master-of-works,  a  learned  man  who 
had  once  occupied  a  high  position  in  the  world;  he  is  said  to 
have  himself  worked  here  with  trowel  and  mortar.  The 
tunnel  vaulting  was  braced  by  transverse  ribs  that  were 
slightly  pointed;  clearstory  windows  were  opened  in  the 
upper  walls.  The  channeled  pilasters  were  a  heritage  from 
the  classic  traditions  of  the  region;  near  by,  in  Rome's  former 
capital  of  Autun,  were  many  monuments  of  antiquity. 

Cluny 's  abbey  church  of  St.  Peter  was  the  largest  in  the 
world,  and  covered  an  area  about  equal  to  that  of  the  present 
St.  Peter's  at  Rome.  It  was  over  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
long;  the  cathedral  at  Paris  is  not  four  hundred  feet  in 
length.  There  were  double  aisles  and  double  transepts.  St. 
Hugues  of  Cluny,  the  sixth  abbot,  "a  ma,n  of  God  greatest 
among  the  great,"  "the  pupil  of  the  papacy's  eye,"  ruled  the 
Burgundian  mother  house  during  the  sixty  years  that  Cluny 
guided  Christendom  (1049  to  1109).  No  flattery,  no  subtlety 
could  turn  him  from  pure  justice.  Under  him  were  trained 
Hildebrand,  the  future  Gregory  VII,  who  led  the  forces  of 
church  reform.  "The  giving  up  of  justice  is  the  shipwreck 
of  the  soul,"  said  Gregory  VII.  Abbot  Hugues  trained  also 
Urban  II,  who  preached  the  First  Crusade.  Among  the 
houses  he  founded  were  St.  Martin-des-Champs  at  Paris,  and 
St.  Pancras  at  Lew-es;  in  England  there  were  thirty -five 
Cluniac  establishments  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII. 

Twice  St.  Hugues  went  into  Spain,  where  his  niece  was  the 
Queen  of  Castile,  engaged  in  substituting  the  liturgy  of  the 
Church  universal  for  the  Mozarabic  rite.  To  the  town  of 
Cluny  he  granted  a  commune,  and  he  built  two  of  its  parish 
churches,  Notre  Dame  and  St.  Marcel.1  When  he  felt  death 

1  The  church  of  Notre  Dame  built  in  Cluny  by  St.  Hugues  was  burned  in  1233,  and 
immediately  reconstructed  as  Burgundian  Gothic;  the  lower  walls  and  some  of  the 
capitals  are  of  St:  Hugues'  time.  Consoles,  sculptured  with  heads,  such  as  those 
under  the  lantern,  are  frequent  in  the  province,  but  a  central  tower  is  exceptional. 
In  the  XVIII  century  the  narthex  was  destroyed.  St.  Marcel's  church  was  rebuilt 
after  a  fire  in  1159  by  the  abbot  of  Cluny,  who  was  a  great-nephew  of  William  the 
Conqueror.  The  octagonal  tower,  capped  by  a  XIH-century  spire,  is  of  exceptionally 
lovely  proportions.  Congres  Archeologique,  1913,  p.  68.  St.  Hugues  also  founded 
the  Charite-sur-Loire,  whose  church  was  dedicated  by  his  pupil.  Paschal  II,  in  1107, 

416 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

approaching,  he  had  himself  carried  before  the  altar  of  St. 
Marcel,  there  to  breathe  his  last  on  a  bed  of  ashes,  and  a 
few  days  earlier  than  the  Easter  Tuesday  of  1109  on  which 
he  passed  away,  his  dear  friend  and  frequent  visitor  at  Cluny, 
St.  Anselm  of  Canterbury,  died,  being  privileged,  he  said,  to  go 
to  meet  his  Saviour  in  time  for  the  blessed  Easter  feast.  Those 
two  great  men  of  the  cloister  by  their  ethical  and  intellectual 
leadership  laid  the  basis  for  the  Gothic  cathedrals. 

The  choir  of  St.  Peter's,  at  Cluny,  was  blessed  by  Urban  II, 
in  1095,  when  he  came  into  France  to  preach  the  First  Crusade. 
He  passed  a  week  in  his  old  home,  after  which  he  and  his 
beloved  master,  St.  Hugues,  proceeded  to  the  historic  gath- 
ering at  Clermont.  The  nave  of  St.  Peter's  was  carried  for- 
ward by  succeeding  abbots  of  Cluny,  and  many  a  pope  was 
to  watch  the  edifice  rising.  Paschal  II  passed  the  winter  of 
1106-07  in  Cluny,  and  his  successor,  Gelasius  II,  died  there 
in  1119;  he  had  recently  consecrated  the  new  Romanesque 
cathedral  of  Pisa.1  On  the  site  of  the  wing  of  the  cloister 
where  he  lodged  now  stands  a  XlV-century  building  called  by 
his  name.  On  his  death  the  cardinals  at  Cluny  held  conclave, 
electing  as  pope  a  member  of  the  ducal  house  of  Burgundy, 
the  bishop  of  Vienne,  who  took  the  name  Calixtus  II;  in  Cluny 
church  he  canonized  the  great  Abbot  Hugues. 

St.  Hugues'  successor,  Pons  de  Melgueil,  after  an  estimable 
career,  was  led  by  pride  to  a  downfall.  On  his  resignation, 
Pierre  de  Montboissier,  an  Auvergne  noble,  known  in  history 
as  Peter  the  Venerable,  became  the  ninth  abbot  (1122-56). 
At  that  time  he  was  but  thirty  years  of  age.  Pons  returned, 
seized  Cluny  abbey,  and  in  the  ensuing  disorders  the  vaulting 
of  the  new  nave  collapsed.  Abbot  Peter  restored  the  stone 
roof,  and  Innocent  II  dedicated  the  completed  church  in  1131. 


at  which  ceremony  assisted  Suger,  then  a  monk  at  St.  Denis.  Only  the  transept 
and  absidioles  are  of  that  time,  for  the  choir,  nave,  and  tower  are  Burgundian  Roman- 
esque of  the  second  half  of  the  XII  century;  the  Lady  chapel  rose  two  centuries  later. 
Once  the  abbatial  was  four  hundred  feet  long,  but  a  fire,  in  1559,  damaged  it  and  only 
four  bays  of  the  nave  remain.  Congres  Archeologique,  1913,  p.  374,  Louis  Serbat; 
Andre  Philippe,  "  Charite-sur- Loire,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1905,  vol.  69,  p.  469. 
1  De  Foville.  Pise  et  Lucques  (Villes  d'art  celebres)  (Paris,  H.  Laurens). 

417 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  capitals  then  carved  are  to  be  seen  in  the  town's 
Museum.  Some  of  them  personified  the  eight  tones  of  litur- 
gical music,  for  Cluny  excelled  in  song,  and  every  twenty- 
four  hours  her  vast  basilica  echoed  to  the  chanting  of  the 
entire  book  of  Psalms;  never,  says  the  old  chronicle,  was 
there  pause  in  the  salutes  clameurs,  the  laus  perennis  started 
by  Irish  Columbanus  in  the  valleys  of  Burgundy.  Some  of 
the  capitals  from  the  abbatial  are  contemporaries  of  the 
statuary  at  Vezelay,  where  Peter  the  Venerable  had  been 
prior,  and  where  his  brother,  Pons  de  Montboissier,  was 
abbot.  Vezelay  was  a  pilgrimage  church,  so  that  its  imagery 
was  made  of  more  popular  character  than  that  of  Cluny, 
where  worshiped  an  intellectual  elite. 

Cluny  began  the  carving  of  the  Bible  for  the  Poor.  The 
Burgundians  were  the  first  to  develop  the  imaged  portal 
which  the  Gothic  cathedrals  were  to  elaborate  into  their 
sumptuous  triple  entrances.  While  Cluny  was  building,  a 
monk  in  the  monastery  composed  a  poem  of  some  thousand 
lines,  opening  with  a  vision  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem.  Ber- 
nard of  Morlaix  must  have  found  inspiration  in  his  own 
Burgundian  basilica,  which  we  know  to  have  contained  over 
three  hundred  windows  of  translucent  mosaic.  He  dedicated 
his  poem  to  his  beloved  abbot,  Pierre  de  Montboissier. 

Peter  the  Venerable  was  no  Puritan  in  art,  as  was  his  friend 
St.  Bernard,  with  whom  he  had  many  a  skirmish,  owing  to 
their  temperamental  differences  and  the  rivalship  of  their 
respective  Orders.  The  abbot  of  Cluny  never  wavered  in 
his  reverence  for  the  "fellow  citizen  of  angels,"  as  he  called 
the  abbot  of  Clairvaux,  and  Bernard  saw  in  Peter,  man  of 
the  world  though  he  was,  "a  vessel  of  election  full  of  truth 
and  grace." 

Like  Abbot  Suger,  Pierre  de  Montboissier  was  the  type  of 
the  liberal  culture  of  the  Benedictine,  and  he  was  to  live  again 
in  the  XVII-century  scholars  of  the  St.  Maur  reform,  even 
as  Bernard's  uncompromising  spirit  reappeared  then  in  De 
Rancy  and  his  Trappists,  a  reform  of  Citeaux.  Like  Suger, 
Peter  the  Venerable  was  a  quoter  of  the  classics,  and  a  literary 

418 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

man.  "To  write  was  for  an  abbot  of  Cluny  a  hereditary 
tradition,"  said  a  Xll-century  historian.  He  had  Arabic 
taught  at  Cluny  for  mission  purposes.  Journeying  in  Spain, 
he  was  the  first  to  have  the  Koran  translated  for  Europe; 
he  held  it  to  be  Islam's  best  refutation.  Very  modern  appears 
this  old-time  abbot  in  the  zest  with  which  he  set  out  to  travel, 
to  inspect  the  houses  of  his  Order.  When  he  died  in  1156, 
he  was  ruling  over  two  thousand  establishments,  in  every 
part  of  Christendom. 

In  person  Peter  was  distinguished,  and  in  character  most 
generous,  humane,  and  free  from  narrowness.  He  was  wisely 
moderate  always,  and  simple  and  direct.  The  letters  of  his 
which  still  exist  make  him  a  living  personality.  Though  as 
keen  a  theologian  as  his  friend  Bernard,  Abbot  Peter  kept 
the  defeated  Abelard  with  him  at  Cluny  until  his  irritated 
spirit  was  soothed,  and  when  the  great  schoolman  died  in 
1142,  Abbot  Peter  wrote  to  Heloi'se,  in  her  nunnery  of  the 
Paraclete,  in  Troyes  diocese,  to  arrange  that  Abelard's  body 
be  brought  there  for  burial,  and  he  himself  went  to  preach  the 
funeral  sermon.1  In  his  letter  to  Heloi'se  he  said  that  never 
had  he  seen  truer  humility  and  retirement  than  Maitre 
Pierre's;  "after  which,"  as  M.  Rene  Bazin  remarks,  "none 
of  us  need  despair." 

Cluny's  abbatial  of  St.  Peter  was  enlarged  in  the  XIII 
century  by  a  forechurch  of  several  bays,  with  double  aisles. 
An  antechurch  or  narthex  was  a  frequent  addition  to  the 
Burgundian  basilica;  sometimes  it  was  open  as  at  Autun  and 
Beaune,  sometimes  wholly  inclosed  as  at  Vezelay.  Although 
Cluny's  narthex  was  built  as  late  as  1220,  groin  vaulting  was 
used  for  the  aisles. 

In  1245  Innocent  IV  paused  for  a  month  at  Cluny,  having 
ia  his  train  a  dozen  cardinals  and  their  suites,  and  Louis  IX 


1  Heloise  as  a  girl,  in  the  convent  of  Argenteuil,  studied  Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew, 
philosophy,  and  theology;  the  women  of  that  age  were  as  eager  for  learning  as  the 
men.  In  1817  her  body  and  that  of  Abelard  were  removed  to  the  cemetery  of  Pere 
la  Chaise  at  Paris.  Le  Roux  de  Lincy,  Lesfemmes  celebres  de  Vancienne  France  (Paris, 
Leroi,  1848),  2  vols.  For  Abelard,  see  de  Remusat  (Paris,  1855)  and  E.  Vacandard 
(Paris,  1881). 

419 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

came  for  a  fortnight's  conference  with  the  pope,  accompanied 
by  the  queen  mother,  his  brothers,  and  courtiers.  The 
emperor  of  Constantinople  and  the  heirs  both  of  Castile  and 
Aragon  were  guests  at  that  same  time,  and  yet  so  immense 
was  the  establishment,  that  all  were  accommodated  without 
the  monks  quitting  their  usual  quarters.  In  1248  St.  Louis 
paused  again  in  Cluny  before  his  first  crusade. 

With  material  success  came  spiritual  decline.  The  tale 
runs  the  same  in  most  of  man's  organizations.  As  a  reformer 
Cluny  was  succeeded  first  by  the  Cistercians,  whose  fervor 
lasted  for  a  century,  when  were  needed  the  two  mendicant 
Orders  of  Francis  and  Dominic.  The  system  that  allowed 
the  king  to  appoint  abbots,  initiated  by  the  Concordat  of 
1516,  proved  fatal,  and  there  is  truth  in  the  saying  that  the 
court  prelates  paved  the  way  for  the  religious  wars.  Three 
times  in  those  bitter  years  of  strife  was  Cluny  sacked,  its 
famous  library  ravaged,  and  its  art  treasures  burned. 

The  Revolution  completed  the  ruin.  The  first  mob  that 
marched  out  from  Macon  to  wreck  the  abbey  was  dispersed 
with  firearms  by  the  townspeople.  The  municipality  of 
Cluny  wrote  to  the  National  Assembly  to  tell  of  the  constant 
benefits  it  had  derived  from  the  monks — so  the  rationalist 
Taine  relates  in  his  Ancien  Regime — but  the  impious  wrecking 
of  the  great  monastery  went  on.  Day  after  day  cartloads  of 
rare  books  were  brought  to  feed  the  bonfires  in  the  square. 
All  through  1793  bands  of  looters  came  out  from  Macon  to 
break  windows  and  destroy  images.  The  indignant  towns- 
people looked  on  impotently  at  the  vandalism  that  spelled 
their  own  material  decline.  At  Napoleon's  advent  they  sent 
petition  after  petition  to  try  to  save  the  big  church,  but  the 
Macon  merchant  who  had  purchased  it  proceeded  to  open  a 
road  right  up  its  nave  and  sold  the  stones  as  building  materials. 
First  the  narthex  was  blown  up  with  gunpowder;  then  a 
transept  arm.  When  the  huge  central  tower  fell  with  stupefying 
noise  the  people  shivered  with  a  nameless  fear.  The  history 
of  France  was  being  obliterated  before  their  eyes. 

To  save  what  remained  the  town  offered  in  exchange  its 

420 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

communal  lands  and  market  halls.  In  vain;  the  grandest 
monastic  church  in  the  world  was  demolished  piecemeal  after 
the  nineteenth  century  opened.  Some  seven  or  eight  towers 
had  crowned  St.  Peter's.  In  1811  the  one  over  the  choir  was 
destroyed.  Gunpowder  blew  up  the  stately  pillars  of  Pentelic 
marble  and  Italian  cipolin  set  around  his  sanctuary  by  St. 
Hugues  seven  hundred  years  before.  They  destroyed  the 
frescoes  of  the  apse,  which  were  so  fresh  that  one  who  then 
sketched  them  said  that  they  seemed  to  have  come  straight 
from  the  artist's  brush. 

To-day  little  of  the  abbey  church  is  standing.  There  are 
vestiges  of  the  choir,  a  small  tower,  and  the  south  arm  of  the 
main  transept  with  a  big  tower  over  it.  There  also  remains 
the  Flamboyant  Gothic  chapel  built  by  Abbot  Jean  de 
Bourbon  (1456-81),  out  of  the  smaller  transept.  In  the 
town  street  are  evidences  of  where  the  western  doors  of  the 
abbatial  once  stood.  The  entrance  arches  to  the  abbey 
grounds  are  intact,  and  some  few  of  the  towers  of  the  in- 
closure  walls.  The  museum  is  now  housed  in  the  monastery's 
guest  quarters  built  by  Jean  de  Bourbon.  His  successor, 
Abbot  Jacques  d'Amboise  (1481-1514),  erected  the  pavilion 
which  now  serves  as  Town  Hall.  Both  of  those  art-loving 
prelates  constructed  at  Paris  the  Hotel  Cluny  as  town  residence 
for  the  abbot  of  the  Burgundian  mother  house. 

THE  ROMANESQUE  ABBATIAL  OF  PARAY-LE-MONIAL » 

The  world  is  very  evil, 

The  times  are  waxing  late, 
Be  sober  and  keep  vigil, 

The  Judge  is  at  the  gate! 
The  Judge  that  comes  in  mercy, 

The  Judge  that  comes  with  might, 
To  terminate  the  evil 

To  diadem  the  right. 

— BERNARD  DE  MORLAIX,  "Jerusalem  the  Golden." 2 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1899;  and  1913,  p.  63,  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis;  Abbe  Cucherat, 
Monographic  de  la  basilique  du  Sacre  Cceur  a  Paray-le-Afonial,  1884;    N.  de  Nicolai, 
Generate  description  du  Bourbonnais. 

2  John  Mason  Neale,  Collected  Hymns,  Sequences,  and  Carols  (London,  Hodden  & 
Stoughton,  1914),  p.  199,  a  translation  of  the  XH-century  poem  of  Bernard  de  Morlaix. 

421 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Not  far  from  Cluny  lies  Paray-le-Monial,  "a  town  very 
clear  to  heaven,"  said  Leo  XIII's  brief  of  1896.  The  mon- 
astery was  founded  by  the  second  abbot  of  Cluny,  St.  Majolus, 
who  was  instrumental  in  bringing  to  France  William  of  Vol- 
piano,  the  leading  spirit  in  the  renaissance  of  architecture 
after  the  year  1000.  The  present  abbatial  resembles  on  a 
very  small  scale  that  of  Cluny.  Its  barrel  vaulting  is  braced 
by  pointed  arches  and  there  are  the  channeled  pilasters  of 
Rome's  tradition  in  the  region.  The  exterior  of  the  apse 
and  the  carven  doorway  are  gems  of  pre-Gothic  art.  Towers 
and  porch  date  from  the  end  of  the  XI  century,  and  the 
remainder  about  1130.  At  present  the  monastery  church 
(which  is  abominably  marred  with  whitewash)  is  dedicated 
to  the  Sacre  Cceur,  a  devotion  that  was  initiated  by  the 
Blessed  Margaret  Mary  Alacoque,  who  died  in  the  Visitation 
convent  of  this  town  in  1690.  Paray-le-Monial  has  become 
one  of  the  pilgrimages  of  modern  France. 

St.  Odilo,  who  governed  Cluny  for  the  half  century  pre- 
ceding the  sixty-year  rule  of  Abbot  Hugues,  loved  especially 
the  priory  of  Paray-le-Monial.  He  inspired  and  organized 
the  Truce  of  God,  the  Treuga  Dei,  by  which  war  was  pro- 
hibited on  certain  days  and  in  certain  holy  seasons.  The 
monk,  Raoul  Glaber,  to  whom  Odilo  was  patron,  has  described 
in  a  chronicle  covering  the  period  from  900  to  1047  (an  in- 
valuable document  for  the  sources  of  the  Capetian  line) 
how  the  war-wrecked  populace  flocked  to  the  church  councils 
that  were  their  only  hope,  their  hands  uplifted,  with  the 
beseeching  cry,  "Peace!  Peace!  Peace!"  In  the  rebirth  of 
hope  and  energy  that  succeeded  to  the  terrors  of  the  year 
1000,  Glaber  has  told  us  how  the  earth  reclothed  herself  in  a 
white  mantle  of  churches.  He  had  been  spurred  on  to  write 
his  history  by  the  chief  builder  of  the  age,  William  of  Volpiano. 
The  great  monastic  churchmen  of  Burgundy  were  leaders  in 
the  movement  that  was  to  culminate,  within  four  generations, 
in  Gothic  cathedrals.  To  Abbot  Odilo  is  attributed,  also, 
the  founding  of  the  feast  of  All  Souls,  which  he  set  on  the 
day  following  All  Saints,  as  if  to  place  the  suffering  ones  in 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

the  care  of  the  elect.     From  the  observance  of  this  feast  in 
Cluny  houses  it  spread  to  the  entire  Church. 

THE  ROMANESQUE  CATHEDRAL  OF  AUTUN1 

Et  c'est  ainsi  que  Dieu  travaille  quand  il  veut  nous  chatier  sans  nous 
perdre,  quand  il  ne  veut  pas  que  la  guerre  finisse,  par  le  feu,  le  sang,  la 
desolation  ge"nerale,  la  ruine  entiere  et  le  changement  d'un  fitat.  II  separe 
les  gens  de  bien:  il  faut  que  les  uns  se  mettent  avec  choix  au  parti  qu'ils 
estiment  le  plus  juste,  et  que  les  autres  se  trouvent  dans  le  parti  qu'ils 
approuvent  quelquefois  le  moins. — LE  PRESIDENT  JEANNIN  (1540-1622; 
born  in  Autun). 

Autun's  chief  church,  one  of  the  few  cathedrals  in  France 
which  is  Romanesque,  was  begun  in  1120  and  consecrated 
in  1132  by  Innocent  II.  In  that  same  year  he  blessed  Cluny 's 
nave  and  Vezelay's  narthex.  A  friend  of  St.  Bernard,  Bishop 
Etienne  de  Bauge  (1112-36),  was  its  chief  benefactor,  as 
he  was,  also,  of  the  Burgundian  abbey  of  Saulieu.2 

The  Last  Judgment  over  Autun's  west  door,  signed  by 
one  Gislebertus,  dates  from  that  period.  Its  strange,  elon- 
gated figures  are  not  the  culmination  of  an  old  art,  but  a  first 
effort  in  a  development  that  was  to  produce  the  imaged  portals 
of  Gothic  cathedrals.  Autun's  curious  tympanum  was  saved 
from  the  iconoclasts  of  the  Revolution  because  the  gens  de 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1899,  p.  62;   and  1907,  p.  32,  Joseph  Dechelette;   also  p. 
537;    H.  de  Fonteray  and  A.  de  Charmasse,  Autun  et  ses  monuments  (1889);    Abbe 
Devoncoux,  Description   de  I'eglise   cathedrale   d' Autun    (1845);     Claude    Courtepee, 
Description  de  la  duche  de  Bourgogne,  vol.  6;   H.  Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artistique  et 
monumentale,  vol.  5,  p.  49,  L.  Pate,  on  Autun;    Paul  Vitry,  in  Revue  Archeol.,  1899, 
p.  188;   Montegut,  Souvenirs  de  Bourgogne. 

2  The  abbey  of  St.  Andoche,  Saulieu,  was  named  for  a  companion  of  St.  Benignus, 
a  Greek  missionary  sent  to  evangelize  Gaul,  perhaps  by  St.  Polycarp  of  Smyrna. 
The  church  was  rebuilt  early  in  the  XII  century,  and  of  that  period  is  the  nave  whose 
capitals  present  sculpture  of  different  epochs :  the  barbaric  earlier  grotesques  censured 
by  St.  Bernard,  then  a  few  acanthus  leaves  and  medallions,  and,  finally,  naturalistic 
work.     Calixtus  II  dedicated  Saulieu's  abbey  church  in  1119.     In  1339  the  English 
sacked  the  choir  and  transept,  which  were  rebuilt  in  1704.     That  true  son  of  Bur- 
gundy, Vauban,  the  celebrated  engineer  of  Louis  XIV,  was  born  in  a  chateau  near 
Saulieu  in  1633:    "  The  most  honest  man  of  his  century,  the  simplest,  truest,  and 
bravest,"  according  to  St.  Simon.     He  covered  France  with  defenses  whose  worth  was 
proved  in  1914.     One  can  comprehend  qualities  in  a  region's  architecture  by  a  knowl- 
edge of  regional  characters.     Congres  Archeologique,  1907,  p.  103,  Pierre  de  Truchis, 
on  Saulieu.     The  architect  Soufflot,  of  M.  Lefevre-Pontalis'  family,  was  a  Burgundian. 

423 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

gout  of  the  XVIII  century  had  covered  it  over  with  the  neo- 
classic  plaster  ornamentation  they  preferred.  The  graceful 
trumeau  images  of  Lazarus,  Martha,  and  Mary  are  restora- 
tions. Before  the  western  door  an  open  narthex  for  the  use 
of  lepers  was  added  about  1178. 

In  the  first  part  of  the  XII  century,  the  cathedral  school 
was  directed,  during  thirty  years,  by  Honore  d'Autun,  whose 
popular  book,  The  Mirror  of  the  Church,  introduced  the  use 
of  annual  symbolism  into  the  iconography  of  cathedrals. 
M.  Male  discovered  that  the  New  Alliance  window  in  Lyons 
Cathedral  copied  his  book  verbatim.  In  the  learned  Honore's 
day  Autun  Cathedral  had  not  yet  laid  claim  to  the  relics  of 
the  risen  Lazarus.  Originally  the  church  was  consecrated 
to  St.  Nazaire,  which  name  was  changed  to  Lazare  after  the 
Burgundian  abbey  of  Vezelay  had  spread  the  story  that 
Mary  Magdalene  had  died  in  Provence.  No  one  knew  how 
Autun  obtained  the  relics  said  to  be  those  of  Lazarus  of  Beth- 
any. They  were  first  exposed  for  veneration  in  the  cathedral 
in  1147.  Monseigneur  Duchesne  has  thought  that  the  legend 
grew  by  unconscious  fabrications.  It  certainly  did  the  Bur- 
gundian towns  little  harm  to  honor  those  whom  the  Lord 
had  cherished.  Through  long  centuries  Burgundy  delighted 
to  call  her  sons  Lazare. 

The  cathedral  of  Autun  has  a  barrel  vault  undergirded 
by  pointed  arches.  Channeled  pilasters,1  great  and  small, 
abound;  they  are  on  all  four  sides  of  the  piers.  In  Autun 
stand  gateways  of  Rome's  empire  to  serve  as  classic  models. 
The  acanthus  leaves  of  the  cathedral's  triforium  can  com- 
pare with  those  of  the  Porte  d'Arroux.  Autun  was  a  Roman 
capital  in  Gaul,  founded  by  Augustus.  It  covered  then 
twice  its  present  area.  Agrippa,  son-in-law  of  Augustus, 
built  the  great  military  road  that  ran  from  Lyons  to  Autun, 
Autun  to  Auxerre,  Auxerre  to  Troyes,  Troyes  to  Chalons- 
sur-Marne,  Chalons  to  Rheims,  Rheims  to  Soissons,  Soissons 


1  The  cathedral  of  Langres  in  ancient  Burgundy  resembles  Autun  in  its  channeled 
pilaster  strips  and  its  acanthus-leaf  sculpture.  Its  choir  was  rebuilt  in  1160,  using 
simultaneously  groin  vaulting  and  diagonals.  The  facade  is  neo-classic. 

424 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

to  Senlis,  Senlis  to  Beauvais,  Beauvais  to  Amiens,  and  thence 
to  Boulogne-sur-Mer. 

The  graceful  central  tower  of  the  cathedral  was  added 
in  the  Flamboyant  Gothic  day  by  Cardinal  Rolin  (d.  1483), 
son  of  the  builder  of  Beaune  Hospital,  Nicolas  Rolin  (a  native 
of  Autun),  the  self-seeking  but  able  chancellor  of  Duke  Philippe 
le  Bon.  Another  son  of  Autun  was  Pierre  Jeannin,  president 
of  the  parliament  of  Burgundy  and  minister  of  Henry  IV. 
His  father,  a  tanner,  was  a  man  of  civic  importance  in  the 
town.  President  Jeannin's  kneeling  statue  and  that  of  his 
wife,  Anne  Gueniot,  are  now  in  the  cathedral  choir,  being  all 
that  remained,  after  the  Revolution,  of  his  tomb  made  by 
Nicolas  Guillan  of  Paris.  No  man  ever  had  a  truer  passion 
for  the  public  weal  than  this  Burgundian  magistrate  who 
saved  Burgundy  from  the  stain  of  blood  on  St.  Bartholomew's 
day  in  1572.  Word  came  from  the  king  to  kill,  but  the 
Catholic  Jeannin  on  the  governor's  council  at  Dijon  urged 
delay,  saying  that  when  a  king's  orders  were  given  in  anger, 
the  wisest  course  was  procrastination.  He  was  to  live  long 
enough  to  aid  Henry  IV  in  drawing  up  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
in  1598. 

Jeannin's  attitude  in  1572  was  all  the  more  meritorious 
because  Burgundy  had  suffered  acutely  from  the  Calvinists, 
who  invited  their  co-religionists  from  Germany  to.  fight  their 
fellow  citizens.  In  1569  a  band  of  the  invaders  left  behind 
them  a  trail  of  four  hundred  burned  villages.  Cluny  was 
attacked,  and  Citeaux  was  sacked  from  top  to  bottom;  to- 
day some  XlV-century  debris  is  all  that  marks  the  mother 
house  of  the  Cistercian  Order.  The  destruction  of  Citeaux 
was  irreparable  for  art,  since  during  centuries  its  abbatial 
was  the  St.  Denis  of  the  first  Capetian  dukes  who  ruled 
Burgundy.  The  leading  families  of  the  province  felt  it  an 
honor  to  be  buried  at  Citeaux.  In  its  church  was  once  the 
splendid  tomb  (now  in  the  Louvre)  of  the  seneschal  of  Bur- 
gundy, Philippe  Pot  (d.  1494).  The  effigy  of  the  baron  in 
armor  is  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  eight  black,  cowled  fig- 
ures— a  further  development  of  the  pleurant  type  of  tomb. 

425 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

In  a  chapel  of  Autun  Cathedral  is  a  beautiful  modern 
statue  of  Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  presented  to  Cardinal 
Perraud  (1882-1906)  of  the  French  Academy,  as  bishop  of 
this  ancient  city  whose  prelate  in  the  VI  century  had  enter- 
tained Augustine  and  his  monks  on  their  way  to  missionize 
England.  Cardinal  Vaughan  of  Westminster  was  the  donor  of 
this  grateful  souvenir. 

THE  HOSPITAL  AND  ROMANESQUE  COLLEGIATE  AT  BEAUNE » 

L'art  du  Moyen  Age — aussi  ennemi  de  1'art  acade*mique  fige"  dans  ses 
moules  conventionnels  que  du  d&sordre  materialiste — est  une  esth.6tique 
tres  simple,  tres  certaine,  tres  puissante  et  tres  libre.  Cette  esthetique 
n'invoque  pas  un  ideal  abstrait;  elle  impose  le  culte  de  la  realite,  de  la  plus 
humble  comme  de  la  plus  6clatante;  elle  pourrait  s'appeler  un,  realisme 
trancendant,  respectant  la  forme  telle  que  Dieu  1'a  faite,  et  en  meme  temps 
la  transfigurant  par  la  grand  frisson  de  1  au-dela. — ROBERT  VALLERY-RADOT.2 

The  Hospital  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  built  by  Chancellor 
Nicolas  Rolin  from  1444  to  1457,  is  a  gem  of  the  province, 
reminding  us  of  the  close  union  of  Burgundy  and  the  Nether- 
lands under  the  four  great  dukes  of  the  West.  The  third  of 
those  rulers,  Philippe  le  Bon,  patronized  Jean  Van  Eyck,  as 
did  the  enterprising  man  who  was  the  duke's  chancellor 
during  forty  years.  For  a  church  at  Autun,  Rolin  ordered  of 
Van  Eyck,  in  1425,  the  magnificent  Madonna  now  in  the 
Louvre  in  which  he  kneels  as  donor — a  shrewd,  hard-featured, 
capable  man. 

For  his  new  hospital  at  Beaune  he  commissioned  Roger 
Van  der  Weyden  to  paint,  in  many  panels,  the  Last  Judgment 
now  in  the  little  museum  of  the  establishment,  but  originally 
installed  in  the  large  raftered  hall.  After  the  Van  Eyck's 
Adoration  of  the  Lamb  it  was  the  most  important  work  of 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1899,  p.  68;   A.  Kleinclausz,  Dijon  et  Beaune  (Collection, 
Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);    Alphonse  Germain,  Les  Neerlandais  en 
Bourgogne  (Bruxelles,   1909);    Arsene  Perier,   Un  chancelier  au  XVe  siecle,  Nicolas 
Rolin  (Paris,  Plon,  1904);   H.  Chabeuf,  in  Revue  de  I' art  chretien,  1900,  p.  193,  on  the 
tapestries  of  Beaune;  Abbe  Bavard,  Histoire  de  I' Hotel  Dieu  de  Beaune  (Beaune,  1881); 
Andre  Michel,  ed.,  Histoire  de  Vart,  vol.  3,  premiere  partie,  "  La  tapisserie  aux  qua- 
torzieme  et  quinzieme  siecles,"  Jules  Guiffrey. 

2  Robert  Vallery-Radot,  Le  revett  de  Vesprit  (Paris,  Perrin  et  Cie,  1917). 

426 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

Flemish  art  undertaken.  Philippe  le  Bon  is  portrayed  in  it 
twice,  and  so  is  the  donor.  The  outside  of  the  panels  is 
painted  in  monochrome — what  the  French  call  camaieu  from 
its  cameo  effect,  and  the  Italians  call  chiaroscuro.  When 
this  superb  painting  hung  at  the  end  of  the  hospital  hall 
that  ended  in  a  chapel  like  the  XHI-century  hospice  at  Ton- 
nerre,  the  patients  could  see  it  from  their  beds.  The  Hotel 
Dieu  at  Tonnerre  had  been  founded  by  Marguerite  of  Bur- 
gundy, in  1293.  After  the  death  of  her  husband,  Charles 
d'Anjou,  whose  cruelty  roused  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  she  retired 
to  the  city  of  which  she  was  hereditary  countess,  and  with 
two  other  dethroned  ladies,  the  Empress  of  Constantinople 
and  the  Countess  of  Tripoli,  gave  herself  up  to  good  works. 
La  bonne  Reyne,  the  people  called  this  princess  who  passed 
her  days  serving  the  sick  poor  in  a  hospital  where  the  spirit 
of  the  Beatitudes  ruled.  None  was  dismissed  from  its  door 
without  new  cloak  and  shoes.  To-day  the  great  rafter- 
covered  hall  at  Tonnerre  lies  empty;  the  raising  of  its  pave- 
ment has  somewhat  impaired  its  proportion. 

Beaune's  hospital  hall,  that  indubitably  copied  Tonnerre's, 
serves  still  the  charitable  purpose  for  which  it  was  founded. 
Its  quiet  courtyard  is  a  vision  of  Flanders.  In  the  kitchen  the 
ancient  iron  crane  of  the  fireplace  is  ornamented  with  I.H.S.; 
the  Middle  Ages  made  even  work  artistic.  On  feast  days, 
such  as  Corpus  Christi,  the  quaint  half-timber  hospice  is 
hung  with  beautiful  XV-century  tapestry.  It  is  deemed  an 
honor  for  the  leading  families  of  the  region  to  count  one  of  its 
members  among  the  nuns  whose  service  is  for  a  few  years, 
after  which  they  may  return  to  their  own  people. 

The  collegiate  church  of  Notre  Dame  at  Beaune  is  a  typical 
Burgundian  Romanesque  edifice  of  the  XII  century,  to  which 
the  following  century  added  a  graceful  open  narthex  of  two 
bays.  It  possesses  seventeen  embroidered  panels  relating 
Our  Lady's  life,  presented  in  1500  by  the  Chanoine  Hugues 
le  Coq,  and  held  to  be  among  the  most  lovely  tapestries  in 
France,  evoking  memories  of  Memling  and  the  Flemish 
primitives. 

427 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

AVALLON,  MONTREAL,  FLAVIGNY,  AND  FONTENAY  * 

L'esprit  humain,  pouss£  par  une  force  invincible,  ne  cessera  jamais  de  se 
demander:  qu'y  a-til  au  dela?  II  ne  sert  a  rien  de  r6pondre:  au  dela  sont 
des  espaces,  des  temps,  ou  des  grandeurs  sans  limites.  Nul  ne  comprend 
ces  paroles.  Celui  qui  proclaime  1'existence  de  1'infini  accumule  dans  cette 
affirmation  plus  de  surnaturel  qu'il  n'y  en  a  dans  tous  les  miracles  de  toutes 
les  religions.  La  notion  de  rinfini  dans  le  monde  j'en  vois  partout  1'ineVitable 
expression.  Par  elle,  le  surnaturel  est  au  fond  de  tous  les  coeurs.  L'id£e  de 
Dieu  est  une  forme  de  I'id6e  de  rinfini.  Tant  que  le  mystere  de  1'infini 
pesera  sur  la  pens£e  humaine,  des  temples  seront  elev^s  au  culte  de  1'infini. 
Et  sur  la  dalle  de  ces  temples,  vous  verrez  des  homines  agenouill6s,  prosternes, 
abim^s  dans  la  pens6e  de  1'infini.  Ou  sont  les  vraies  sources  de  la  dignit6 
humaine,  de  la  liberty,  et  de  la  democratic  moderne,  sinon  dans  la  notion 
de  1'infini  devant  laquelle  tous  les  hommes  sont  £gaux? — Louis  PASTEUR 
(1822-95;  born  in  Burgundy).2 

The  hill  town  of  Avallon,  above  the  gorge  of  the  Cousin, 
with  a  square  that  would  do  honor  to  any  capital,  makes  a 
convenient  center  from  which  to  explore  various  Burgundian 
churches.  Its  own  church  of  St.  Lazare  still  possesses  the 
apse  and  absidioles  of  the  edifice  blessed  by  Paschal  II  in 
1107.  The  remainder  of  the  church  was  built  in  mid-XII 
century,  and  the  portal  (in  five  orders  richly  carved,  with 
channeled  and  twisted  columns)  belongs  to  the  end  of  the 
century.  A  copy  of  Avallon's  door  is  in  the  Trocadero  Museum 
at  Paris  where  it  can  be  compared  at  close  range  with  the  two 
other  notable  Romanesque  portals  of  the  province — those  of 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1907,  p.  4,  Avallon,  Charles  Poree,  and  p.  129,  G.  Fleury; 
p.  97,  Montreal,  Charles  Poree;   p.  49,  Flavigny,  P.  de  Truchis;    E.  Petit,  Avallon 
et  V Avallonnais  (Auxerre,  Gallot,  1867);  R.  Vallery-Radot,  Un  Coin  de  Bourgogne; 
Avallon;   Abbe  Villetard,  "  Les  statues  du  portail  de  1'eglise  St.  Lazare  d'Avallon," 
in  Bull,  de  la  Societe  deludes  d'Avallon,  1899,  1900,  and  1901;   E.  Petit,  "Collegiale 
de  Montreal,"  in  L'Annuaire  de  I'Yonne,  1861,  p.  121;    G.  T.  Rivoira,  Lombardic 
Architecture  (tr.  London  and  New  York,  1910),  vol.  2,  on  the  crypt  of  Flavigny;   L. 
Bondot  et  J.  Galimard,  Restes  de  I'ancienne  basilique  de  Flavigny  (1906);  Claude  Cour- 
tepee,  Description  du  duche  de  Bourgogne,  vol.  3,  on  Flavigny;  Lucien  Begule,  L'abbaye 
de  Fontenay  et  V architecture  cistercienne  (Lyon,  1912).     There  is  also  a  study  by  Begule 
of  Fontenay  in  the  Petites  Monographies  series  published  by  H.  Laurens;  J.  B.  Cor- 
bolin,  Monographic  de  Vabbaye  de  Fontenay  (Citeaux,  1882). 

2  Discours  de  reception  de  M.  Louis  Pasteur  a  VAcademie  Frangaise,  1882.     Pasteur 
was  born  at  Dole  (Jura),  once  a  part  of  ancient  Burgundy.     A  grandson,  Robert 
Vallery-Radot,  is  one  of  the  younger  generation  that  comprehends  the  spiritual  essence 
of  the  Middle  Ages.     He  has  written  of  the  potency  of  his  prayer  in  the  church  dedi- 
cated to  holy  Lazarus  in  his  native  Avallon.     Another  grandson,  Jean  Vallery-Radot, 
is  a  rising  member  of  the  school  of  mediaeval  archaeology. 

428 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

Autun  and  Vezelay.  The  interior  of  St.  Lazare  is  excessively 
plain,  having  a  high  expanse  of  unbroken  wall  over  the  pier 
arches,  with  the  clearstory  opened  merely  by  little  circular 
windows. 

Twenty  miles  from  Avallon  is  the  church  of  Montreal, 
like  a  feudal  fort  guarding  one  of  the  main  passageways  from 
Champagne.  The  lord  of  Montreal  was  among  the  few 
hundred  barons  who  returned  from  the  dire  experience  of 
famine,  treason,  and  death  which  was  the  Second  Crusade, 
on  which  had  set  forth  a  hopeful  hundred  thousand  knights 
and  pilgrims.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  XII  century  he  built 
Montreal's  collegiate  church,  one  of  the  earliest  Gothic  ventures 
in  the  province,  showing  a  simultaneous  use  of  Romanesque 
and  Gothic  vaulting.  Its  two  westernmost  bays  were  added 
early  in  the  XIII  century.  The  beautiful  alabaster  reredos 
of  the  XV  century,  and  the  carved  choir  stalls,  are  well  worth 
studying.  Beyond  Montreal,  to  the  north  of  Avallon,  lies 
Tonnerre's  hospital  hall  and  to  the  south  can  be  visited  the 
abbatial  at  Saulieu  and  the  XIH-century  castle  of  Chastellux, 
a  son  of  which  ancient  house  fought  in  America  with  Rocham- 
beau  and  was  the  good  friend  of  George  Washington.1 

To  the  east,  at  Flavigny,  set  picturesquely  on  a  hill  near 
the  last  stronghold  held  by  the  Gauls  against  the  Romans, 
stood  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  abbey  churches,  of  which 
portions  of  the  XIH-century  sanctuary  remain,  a  few  arches 
of  the  nave,  and  a  Carolingian  crypt  built  by  the  abbot  who 
ruled  here  from  755  to  768,  hence  that  subterranean  chamber 
can  claim  to  be  the  oldest  dated  monument  extant  in  France. 
Over  the  choir  of  Flavigny  was  a  cupola,  and  the  Lady  chapel 
was  an  Xl-century  octagon  like  that  which  William  of  Volpiano 
constructed  for  his  abbey  at  Dijon.  This  precious  Bene- 
dictine abbatial  was  destroyed  in  the  XIX  century.  At 
Flavigny  are  two  ancient  parish  churches.  Wliat  is  now  the 


1  Jean  de  Chastellux,  Travels  in  America,  1780-1782.  He  was  the  first  to  have 
himself  inoculated  with  smallpox  in  order  to  give  confidence  to  the  people.  The 
heir  of  Chastellux  was  a  hereditary  first  canon  in  Auxerre  Cathedral,  privileged  to 
sit  in  its  choir  with  a  falcon  on  his  wrist. 

429 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Pension  Lacordaire  was  the  Dominican  convent  opened  in 
1849  by  that  brilliant  son  of  Burgundy,  with  funds  donated 
by  his  admirers  of  Dijon. 

To  the  northeast  of  Avallon,  at  Fontenay,  near  Montbard, 
is  the  oldest  extant  Romanesque  church  of  the  Cistercian 
Order,  built  from  1139  to  1147,  on  land  given  by  the  lord  of 
Montbard,  the  maternal  uncle  of  St.  Bernard;  on  his  mother's 
side  St.  Bernard  was  of  the  blood  of  Burgundy's  first  line  of 
Capetian  dukes.  The  great  abbot  of  Clairvaux  himself 
conducted  hither  the  twelve  monks  who  were  to  found  the 
new  house  and  reclaim  the  marshy  region;  and  for  his  brethren 
of  Fontenay  he  wrote  his  treatise  on  Pride  and  Humility. 

The  first  small  sanctuary  at  Fontenay  was  soon  replaced 
by  the  actual  one,  built  on  the  same  lines  as  the  church  at 
Clairvaux,  which  no  longer  stands.  Both  followed  the  Cis- 
tercian plan;  no  tower;  no  triforium  nor  clearstory;  uncut 
capitals;  the  east  end  rectangular;  square  chapels  opening 
on  the  eastern  wall  of  the  transept.  Funds  for  the  new  con- 
structions at  Fontenay  were  provided  by  a  wealthy  English 
prelate  who  had  retired  here,  Evrard  de  Montgomery,  of  the 
Arundel  family,  who,  while  bishop  of  Norwich,  completed 
the  long  Norman  nave  of  that  cathedral.  In  1147  the  church 
was  consecrated  by  Pope  Eugene  III,  St.  Bernard  being 
present.  As  it  was  frequent  in  Cistercian  monasteries  to 
make  a  specialty  of  some  branch  of  manual  work,  Fontenay 
conducted  a  forge,  and  the  massive  XH-century  building 
which  housed  it  still  stands.  The  forge,  the  abbey  church, 
and  the  refectory  to-day  comprise  part  of  a  paper  factory 
whose  proprietor  has  taken  a  patriotic  pride  in  restoring 
these  precious  monuments  of  ancient  Burgundy. 

THE  PRIMARY  GOTHIC  ABBATIAL  AT  PONTIGNY  * 

Whatever  draws  us  from  the  power  of  our  senses,  whatever  makes  the 
past,  the  distant,  or  the  future  predominate  over  the  present,  advances  us 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1907,  p.  199;  Abbe  Henry,  Histoire  de  Vabbaye  de  Pontigny 
(Avallon,  1839);  Chaillon  des  Barres,  L'abbaye  de  Pontigny  (Paris,  1844);  Histoire 
litteraire  de  la  France,  vol.  11,  p.  213,  "  St.  fitienne,  troisieme  abbe  de  Clteaux" 
(Paris,  1759). 

430 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

in  the  dignity  of  thinking  beings.  Far  from  me  and  from  my  friends  be  the 
frigid  philosophy  as  may  conduct  us  indifferent  and  unmoved  over  any 
ground  which  has  been  dignified  by  wisdom,  bravery,  or  virtue.  .  .  .  That 
man  is  little  to  be  envied  whose  patriotism  does  not  gain  force  on  the  plain 
of  Marathon,  or  whose  piety  would  not  grow  warmer  among  the  ruins  of 
lona. — DR.  SAMUEL,  JOHNSON. 


The  oldest  Gothic  church  in  Burgundy  is  the  Cistercian 
abbatial  at  Pontigny.  "Cradle  of  bishops  and  asylum  of 
great  men,"  Pontigny  is  parfumSe  de  souvenirs,  to  use  a  charm- 
ing stilted  French  phrase.  It  was  the  first  daughter  of  Citeaux, 
founded  in  1114.  When  a  pious  canon  of  Auxerre  proposed 
to  endow  a  house  of  the  new  Order,  the  abbot  of  Citeaux, 
St.  Stephen  Harding,  came  to  overlook  the  site  on  the  con- 
fines of  Champagne,  and  then  sent  twelve  monks  to  found 
the  house,  under  the  leadership  of  Hugues  de  Macon,  kins- 
man and  childhood  friend  of  St.  Bernard. 

The  Cistercians  had  not  the  Benedictines'  weakness  for 
a  noble  site,  but  if  they  planted  their  monasteries  in  a  marsh 
— as  at  Fontenay  and  Pontigny — their  agricultural  industry 
sopn  made  the  desert  bloom.  The  earlier  Cistercian  churches 
obeyed  St.  Bernard's  ascetic  admonitions  for  architecture,  a 
Puritanism  that  became  monotonous  in  the  Italian  churches 
of  the  Order.  In  France  the  Cistercians  ceased  to  adhere 
to  church  simplicity,  raising  sanctuaries  such  as  Ourscamp, 
Longpont,  and  St.  Julien-le-Pauvre  at  Paris. 

No  towers  adorned  Pontigny,  and  stained  glass  was  eschewed, 
but  the  leaded  design  of  the  grisaille  windows  is  so  lovely 
that,  as  M.  Andre  Michel  has  said,  "one  could  not  be  poor 
with  more  nobility."  The  architect  of  Pontigny  made  skillful 
use  of  certain  essential  constructive  features  to  obtain  his 
decorative  effects.  Thus,  though  monastic  sobriety  was 
followed  by  omitting  the  triforium,  the  bare  wall  between 
pier  arches  and  clearstory  was  relieved  (at  the  sanctuary 
curve)  by  carrying  down  the  moldings  from  the  upper 
windows;  and  in  the  procession  path  a  fifth  rib  was  in- 
troduced into  each  vault  section,  which  rib  fell  on  a  corbel 
set  above  the  entrance  to  each  of  the  radiating  chapels — 

28  431 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

a  constructive  subtlety  by  which  was  produced  a  graceful 
wall  arcade. 

The  present  abbatial  was  begun  a  generation  after  the 
foundation  of  Pontigny,  with  funds  contributed  by  Thibaut 
the  Great,  Count  of  Champagne.  The  transept,  which  is 
Romanesque,  rose  from  1150  to  1160.  While  the  walls  of 
the  nave  were  mounting,  the  master-of-works  began  to  pre- 
pare for  a  Gothic  vault  over  the  principal  span.  The  lower 
windows  were  round-headed;  the  upper  ones  used  the  pointed 
arch.  As  the  keystone  of  the  diagonals  was  raised  far  above 
the  arches  framing  each  section,  a  pronounced  bomb6  shape 
resulted.  From  1160  to  1180  this  transitional  nave  of  Pon- 
tigny was  building,  and  the  most  famous  of  the  English  exiles, 
who  sought  the  hospitality  of  Pontigny,  must  have  watched 
the  works.  The  choir,  as  first  erected,  had  a  rectangular 
eastern  wall  after  the  usual  manner  of  Citeaux's  churches. 
Then,  from  1170  to  1200,  the  present  choir  was  erected  with 
Gothic  ambulatory  and  radiating  chapels.1  Alix  of  Cham- 
pagne, daughter  of  the  abbey's  generous  patron,  and  mother 
of  the  French  king,  Philippe-Auguste,  was  buried  in  the  new 
choir,  in  1208.  From  1207  to  1213  Pontigny  harbored  a 
second  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Stephen  Langton,  of  Magna 
Charta  fame.  During  the  studious  years  he  passed  here  he 
divided  the  Bible  into  chapters  for  the  first  time,  and  even 
the  Greeks  accepted  his  rulings.  In  later  life  Archbishop 
Langton  often  looked  back  to  this  byway  of  Burgundy; 
"his  garden,  his  solace,  his  abode  of  peace,"  he  called  it. 

His  predecessor  at  Pontigny  was  St.  Thomas  Becket,  one 
of  the  outstanding  figures  of  the  XII  century,  whose  story 
is  told  in  many  a  French  window  and  sculptured  group.  If 
ever  an  Englishman  was  all  of  a  piece  it  was  that  son  of  a 
Rouen  merchant  settled  in  London.  During  his  life  as  a 
courtier  Becket  was  so  lavish  in  grandeur  that  when  he  passed 


1 "  The  long  prospect  of  nave  and  choir  ends  with  a  sort  of  graceful  smallness  in  a 
chevet  of  seven  closely  packed,  narrow  bays.  It  is  like  a  nun's  church,  or  like  a 
nun's  coif." — WALTER  PATER,  on  Pontigny,  in  Miscellaneous  Studies  (London,  The 
Macmillan  Company,  1895). 

432 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

through  France  as  Henry  II's  ambassador,  the  countryside 
turned  out  to  see  him,  since  few  were  the  king's  retinues  that 
could  equal  his.  When  Henry  raised  him  to  the  highest  post 
in  the  English  Church  he  instantly  dropped  luxury.  He 
stood  firm  as  a  rock  in  defense  of  ecclesiastical  rights  against 
the  king's  attempt  at  Church  supremacy.  Tennyson's  "  Becket " 
says,  "I  served  King  Henry  well  as  Chancellor;  I  am  his 
no  more,  and  I  must  serve  the  Church." 

To  the  end  of  time  such  a  character  will  be  discussed; 
some  for,  some  against,  him;  admired  he  certainly  was  by 
that  sincerest  and  cleverest  of  men,  John  of  Salisbury,  who 
lived  in  his  intimacy.1  Both  in  England  and  France  the 
populace  felt  that  Becket  was  the  champion  of  their  civic 
rights  by  his  defense  of  church  independence — then  the  only 
supreme  court  against  lay  tyranny.  Undeviatingly  and 
enthusiastically  they  supported  him  all  through  his  seven 
years'  exile.  One  of  the  articles  of  the  Clarendon  Consti- 
tutions which  Henry  Plantagenet  tried  to  impose  on  English 
ecclesiastics  was  that  no  peasant  could  become  a  priest  with- 
out his  lord's  permission.  The  poet  voiced  the  indignant 
outcry:  "Hath  not  God  called  us  all,  bond  or  free,  to  his 
service?" 

When  Henry  II,  with  his  usual  Angevin  bad  faith,  duped 
his  new  archbishop  into  a  promise  to  maintain  the  customs 
of  the  kingdom,  and  thereupon  proceeded  to  revive  obsolete 
customs,  Becket,  repenting  the  concessions  he  had  made, 
fled,  in  1164,  to  Sens,  to  lay  the  case  before  Alexander  III. 
The  pope  decided  that  certain  of  the  Clarendon  propositions 
were  impossible  for  any  churchman  to  accede  to.  The  abbot 
of  Pontigny  offered  hospitality  to  the  persecuted  primate 
and  Becket  stayed  with  him  till  1168,  conforming  to  the 
severe  Cistercian  Rule.  He  quitted  the  Burgundian  monastery 
when  Henry,  in  a  burst  of  vindictive  anger,  threatened  to 


1  J.  C.  Robertson,  ed.,  Material  for  the  History  of  Thomas  Becket.  Rolls  series, 
7  vols.;  vols.  1  to  4  contain  the  lives  written  by  John  of  Salisbury,  Herbert  of  Bosham, 
etc.  Other  studies  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  are  Morris  (London,  1885);  Kate 
Norgate  (Dictionary  of  National  Biography);  L.  Huillier  (Paris,  1891),  2  vols. 

433 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

shut  up  every  house  of  the  white  monks  in  England  as  well 
as  in  his  continental  possessions  if  they  harbored  the  rebellious 
churchman.  Soon  after  Becket's  arrival  at  Pontigny,  the 
irate  king  sent  thither  the  primate's  relatives  and  friends, 
turned  out  to  beggary,  in  order  that  their  plight  might  oppress 
the  archbishop's  spirit. 

The  third  exile  from  Canterbury,  and  the  saint  who  has 
given  his  name  to  Pontigny 's  abbatial,  was  a  gentler  spirit. 
St.  Edmund  Rich  knew  France  as  well  as  his  native  region 
of  Oxford,  having  studied  in  Paris  University  and  taught 
there  for  years.  It  is  told  how  his  mother,  Mabel,  sent  him 
to  the  foreign  schools  with  a  hair  shirt  and  a  cord  whip  in  his 
gripsack  in  order  that  he  might  learn  to  chastise  and  thus 
curb  himself.  She  was  a  merchant's  wife,  and  alone  reared 
her  family,  to  enable  her  husband  to  follow  the  call  he  felt 
for  the  cloister;  two  of  her  daughters  died  the  saintly  abbesses 
of  Catesby.  At  the  knee  of  that  XHI-century  mother  the 
little  Edmund,  as  a  child,  recited  every  Sunday  the  entire 
book  of  Psalms.  While  lecturing  at  Oxford  he  initiated  the 
study  of  Aristotle.  In  Paris,  St.  Edmund  watched  the  cathe- 
dral of  Notre  Dame  perfecting  itself,  and  at  Salisbury,  while 
treasurer,  he  assisted  at  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  of  the 
Gothic  cathedral  in  1220. 

Worsted  in  the  struggle  to  right  crying  abuses  in  English 
church  affairs  where  the  king  kept  bishoprics  vacant  for  his 
financial  profit,  and  the  queen  filled  the  sees  with  her  own 
unpopular  foreign  relatives,  the  archbishop,  accompanied 
by  his  chancellor,  St.  Richard,  was  on  his  way  to  Rome  to 
remonstrate.  He  thought  it  wrong  to  condone  further  by 
his  presence  evils  he  was  powerless  to  correct.  He  paused 
in  Burgundy,  and  there  death  came  to  him  in  1243.  To-day 
his  tomb  stands  over  the  high  altar  of  the  abbey  church 
named  St.  Edme,  in  his  memory.  Puritan  Bernard  most 
certainly  would  not  approve  the  gymnastic-limbed  angels  that 
decorate  the  present  Renaissance  tomb  of  St.  Edmund,  but  one 
fears  that  he  would  give  his  sanction  to  the  whitewash  that  dis- 
figures the  interior  of  the  interesting  Primary  Gothic  church. 

434 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

To  the  canonization  ceremonies  at  Pontigny  in  honor  of 
St.  Edmund  of  Abingdon  came  St.  Louis  (who  had  known 
him  well  in  Paris)  and  Blanche  of  Castile,  and  notables  such 
as  the  archbishop  -  builder  of  Bourges  Cathedral,  and  St. 
Richard,  now  become  bishop  at  Chichester,  in  which  cathe- 
dral his  tomb  was  destroyed,  in  1538,  by  order  of  Henry  VIII. 
Few  spots  in  France  are  more  entirely  apart  from  the  come- 
and-go  of  modern  life  than  is  forgotten  Pontigny,  parfumee  de 
souvenirs. 

THE  ABBATIAL  OF  VEZELAY * 

II  y  a  des  lieux  qui  tirent  1'ame  de  sa  lethargic,  des  lieux  enveloppe's, 
baign6s  de  mystere,  61us  de  toute  6ternite  pour  etre  le  siege  de  l'6motion 
religieuse  .  .  .  I'heVoique  Vezelay,  le  mont  Saint-Michel,  qui  surgit  comme 
un  miracle  des  sables  mouvants  .  .  .  lieux  qui  nous  commandaient  de 
faire  taire  nos  pens^es  et  d'6couter  plus  profond  que  notre  cceur.  Silence! 
les  dieux  sont  ici!  U  y  a  des  lieux  ou  souffle  1'Esprit. — MAURICE  BARRES, 
La  colline  inspiree.2 

The  supreme  excursion  from  Avallon  is  that  to  Vezelay,  ten 
miles  away.  One  can  drive  to  it  or  walk  to  it,  since  no  railway 
touches  the  valley  which  once  was  the  beaten  thoroughfare  for 
Christendom  marching  to  crusades.  A  good  way  to  approach 
it  in  the  proper  spirit  of  pilgrimage  is  to  walk  from  the  station 
at  Sermizelle  with  the  church  of  St.  Magdalene  as  the  lodestar 
to  guide  one's  steps.  Vezelay  has  the  aspect  of  a  hill  city  of 
Umbria.  The  abbey  church,  Gothic  in  its  choir,  Romanesque 
in  its  nave,  transition  in  its  forechurch,  and  practically  all  of 
it  of  the  XII  century,  crowns  the  hill  like  a  cathedral. 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1907,  p.  27;  Charles  Poree,  Vabbaye  de  Vezelay  (Collection, 
Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);    H.  Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artisque  et 
monumentale,  vol.  4,  Vezelay;  De  George,  "  L'eglise  abbatiale  de  Vezelay,"  in  L' Archi- 
tecture, 1905;   L.  E.  Lefevre,  "  Le  portail  de  I'abbaye  de  Vezelay,"  in  Revue  de  I'art 
chretien,  1906,  p.  253;  also,  1904,  vol.  54,  p.  448,  G.  Sanoner;  Crosnier,  "  Iconographie 
de  I'abbaye  de  Vezelay,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1847,  p.  219;  V.  Flandin,  "  Vezelay," 
in  Annuaire  statistique  du  departement  de  I'Yonne,  1841-45;   A.  Cherest,  Etudes  histo- 
riques  sur   Vezelay   (Auxerre,    1868);   Gaily,   Vezelay  monastique   (Tonnerre,    1888); 
Camille  Enlart,  Le  musee  de  sculpture  comparee  du   Trocadero  (Paris,  H.  Laurens, 
1913);    A.  Thierry,  Lettres  sur  Vhistoire  de  France,  chaps.  22-24;   Joseph  Bedier,  Les 
Ugendes  epiques,  vol.  1,  "  La  legende  de  Girard  de  Roussillon"  (Paris,  H.  Champion, 
1908),  4  vols. 

2  Maurice  Barres,  La  colline  inspiree  (Paris,  Emile-Paul,  freres,  1913). 

435 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

"Le  grand  nom  de  Vfaelay  sonne  aux  oreilles  avec  une  sauvage 
poesie.  La  majeste  du  site  est  digue  de  la  splendeur  du  monu- 
ment."1 Always  afterward  will  you  remember  this  abode  of 
reverie  with  that  uplift  of  the  heart  which  high  art  and  high 
thoughts  arouse.  Like  loved  sites  in  Umbria,  this,  too,  is 
"one  of  the  earth's  oases  of  spiritual  rest  and  refreshment." 

The  abbey  was  founded  in  the  IX  century  by  Girard  de 
Roussillon  2  of  chanson  de  geste  fame,  but  its  position  as  a 
leading  pilgrim  shrine  was  not  established  till  Abbot  Geoffrey 
was  installed  in  1037.  Only  then  did  the  relics  of  the  Mag- 
dalene appear  here,  given,  it  was  claimed,  by  Charles  Martel 
as  reward  for  Burgundian  aid  during  Sacracen  inroads  in  the 
Midi.  Monseigneur  Duchesne  thinks  that  from  Vezelay 
started  the  legends  so  loved  in  Provence,  that  the  privileged 
family  of  Bethany,  with  others  who  had  known  the  Lord, 
fled  from  persecution  in  Syria  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone 
about  A.D.  40.  Up  to  the  XI  century  the  Christian  world 
had  accepted  Ephesus  as  the  burial  place  of  the  Magdalene, 
and  the  tomb  of  Lazarus  was  claimed  by  Cyprus.  In  899  the 
Emperor  Leo  VI  had  removed  both  bodies  to  Constantinople, 
where  he  built  a  church  for  them.  Not  a  trace  of  the  tradition 
concerning  the  Bethany  sisters  and  brother  is  to  be  found 
in  France  before  Vezelay  monastery  claimed  the  possession  of 
the  relics  of  the  Magdalene  and  dedicated  its  church  to  her. 

The  founder  of  Vezelay  freed  its  abbot  of  the  control  of 
local  bishop  or  baron  by  establishing  him  as  feudal  proprietor 
of  the  town.  The  result  was  that  the  history  of  the  abbey 

1  Louis  Gonse,  L'Art  Gothique  (Paris,  Quantin,  1891). 

2  St.  Pere-sous- Vezelay,  below  the  hill,  occupies  the  site  where  Girard  de  Roussillon's 
foundation  was  first  established.     The  present  church  is  a  typical  Burgundian  Gothic 
edifice,  partly  of  the  XII  and  partly  of  the  XIII  century.     Carved  corbels  catch  the 
fall  of  certain  diagonals,  and  in  place  of  a  triforium  is  an  interior  passageway  that 
passes  through  the  shafts.     In  the  opening  years  of  the  XIV  century  was  added  the 
narthex,  a  noble  porch  of  two  bays  whose  capitals  have  foliage  in  little  bunches  set 
in  two  rows.     The  facade  is  decorated  by  big  statues  like  that  of  the  Madeleine  church, 
a  mile  away,  and  at  the  corners  of  the  tower,  a  landmark  for  the  valley,  are  sculptured 
angels  blowing  trumpets.     The  choir  of  St.  Pere-sous-Vezelay  was  wrecked  during 
the  English  wars,  and  was  in  large  part  rebuilt  as  late-Gothic.     Congres  Archeologique, 
1907,  p.  16;   Abbe  Pissier,  "  Notice  historique  sur  Saint-Pere-sous- Vezelay,"  in  Bull, 
de  la  Soc.  des  Sciences  de  VYonne,  1902,  vol.  56,  pp.  33,  275. 

436 


Vezelays  XH-century  Abbey  Church  of  the  Madeleine 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

was  a  stormy  one.  The  neighboring  proprietors,  resenting 
the  abbot's  independence,  excited  against  him  the  towns- 
people who  had  grown  rich  from  the  fairs  held  during  the 
pilgrimages.  The  burghers  chafed  at  their  serfdom  to 
the  monastery,  and  in  1106,  during  riots,  they  murdered 
Abbot  Artaud.  He  probably  was  the  builder  of  the  Roman- 
esque choir  to  which  was  originally  attached  the  actual  nave, 
since  there  is  record  of  a  dedication  ceremony  at  Vezelay  in 
1104.  As  the  archives  were  burned  by  the  Calvinists  in 
1560,  no  precise  dates  exist  for  the  church,  but  M.  Lefevre- 
Pontalis  thinks  that  the  crypt  under  the  choir  is  of  Abbot 
Artaud's  time. 

A  fire  in  which  hundreds  perished  occurred  in  1120.  The 
present  nave  could  not  have  been  in  use  before  then.  When 
it  was  completed  the  builders  proceeded  to  erect  a  forechurch 
of  three  bays,  and  between  it  and  the  nave  was  opened  the 
famous  portico  which  has  been  called  worthy  of  Paradise. 
Innocent  II,  in  1132,  blessed  the  new  parts  of  the  abbatial. 
He  had  lately  consecrated  the  cathedral  of  Piacenza,  and  at 
Pavia  in  that  same  year  was  blessed  San  Pietro-in-Ciel-d'Ore. 
North  and  south  of  the  Alps  the  same  energies  were  astir, 
but  no  sculpture  of  that  period  in  Italy  equals  that  of  Vezelay. 
The  date  of  the  imaged  portal  of  Ferrara  Cathedral  is  1135, 
and  that  of  St.  Zeno  at  Verona,  1183. 

The  nave  at  Vezelay  had  no  triforium,  nor  was  there  a 
tribune  over  the  aisles.  However,  in  the  narthex  they  built 
upper  galleries,  under  whose  lean-to  roof  was  concealed  a 
quarter-circle  wall  that  did  the  work  of  a  continuous  flying 
buttress.  The  principal  span  was  still  further  counterbutted 
by  the  side  aisles  themselves.  Over  the  easternmost  bay  of 
the  narthex  appeared  a  vault  section  with  Gothic  ribs,  but 
the  diagonals  were  more  decorative  than  functional;  the 
vault  web  of  rubble  in  a  bed  of  mortar  was  molded  on  a 
temporary  frame  like  a  groin  vault.  Pointed  arches  were 
employed  in  the  main  arcade  of  the  forechurch. 

Vezelay's  capitals  rivet  attention,  so  dramatic  are  the 
Bible  stories  related — the  suicide  of  Judas,  David  and  Goliath, 

437 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Absalom,  Moses,  some  symbolized  vices  and  virtues,  too, 
and  a  few  genre  studies.  The  capital  of  the  fifth  pier  on 
the  north  side  of  the  nave  shows  field  laborers  who  carry  cones 
which  some  say  were  used  for  scattering  grain,  and  others 
think  were  for  the  vintage,  or  for  honey-gathering;  the  same 
agricultural  scene  was  represented  at  Cluny.  Vezelay  even 
ornamented  with  sculpture  some  of  the  bases  of  its  piers. 

The  triple  doors  between  narthex  and  nave  are  a  supreme 
work.  At  the  middle  trumeau  stands  John  the  Baptist,  he 
who  was  sent  before  to  prepare  the  way,  the  announcer  as 
well  as  the  witness.  On  the  disk  which  he  holds  was  once 
carved  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the 
world.  Observe  that  the  trumeau  was  made  narrow  at  its 
base,  in  order  to  let  pass  the  pilgrim  throngs.  At  each  side 
of  the  door  stand  a  few  apostles,  and  among  them  M.  Viollet 
le-Duc  cited  St.  Peter  as  one  of  the  earliest  attempts  to  escape 
the  stereotyped  Byzantine  models  by  portraying  individual 
expression  in  imagery. 

In  the  tympanum  is  the  Pentecost,  or  perhaps  it  may  be 
called  more  exactly  the  Messiah's  mandate  to  the  apostles: 
Go,  teach  all  nations.  Christ  is  surrounded  by  a  gloria,  and 
the  Greek  cross  of  his  nimbus  symbolizes  divinity.  From 
his  outstretched  hands  spread  rays  which  touch  the  head  of 
each  apostle.  The  explanations  of  the  lintel  stone  have 
been  various.  It  would  seem  to  represent  the  strange  peoples 
of  the  world  to  be  won  by  Gospel  preaching.  Around  the 
tympanum  are  eight  medallions,  thought  to  interpret  John 
the  Evangelist  and  the  seven  churches  of  Asia  he  exhorted. 

In  1136  an  Auvergne  noble,  Pons  de  Montboissier,  became 
abbot  of  Vezelay  (d.  1161),  when  the  forechurch  was  prac- 
tically finished,  but  without  doubt  while  its  statuary  was 
in  progress,  for  certain  uncut  sides  of  the  capitals  prove  that 
the  stones  were  set  up  in  the  rough  and  carved  in  situ.  Under 
Abbot  Pons,  Vezelay  emancipated  itself  from  Cluniac  rule. 
He  was  the  brother  of  Peter  the  Venerable  of  Cluny,  who 
had  become  prior  of  Vezelay  at  twenty  years  of  age.  In 
vain  the  amenable  Peter  counseled  Pons  to  show  a  more 

438 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

conciliatory  spirit  toward  the  restless  townsmen,  but  Pons 
was  as  stubbornly  convinced  of  the  righteousness  of  his  mon- 
astery's privileges  as  is  many  a  modern  landlord  who  holds 
vast  areas  among  the  unlanded  millions.  He  held  a  stiff 
head  against  popular  demands,  the  trouble  grew  aggravated, 
and  the  embittered  burghers  passed  beyond  their  first  fair 
demands  and  compromised  their  cause.  Abbot  Pons  was 
driven  out,  but  returned  a  victor  after  Louis  VII  had  investi- 
gated the  case  and  imposed  a  heavy  fine  on  the  citizens. 
Some  have  thought  that  the  penalty  money  was  expended 
on  the  elaborate  sculptures  of  the  abbey  church.  The  people 
might  oppose  their  feudal  master,  but  they  were  aware  that 
their  material  prosperity  came  from  the  pilgrimage  church 
of  the  monastery,  and  each  Burgundian  was  proud  to  show 
the  visiting  strangers  the  region's  exceptional  ability  in  stone- 
cutting. 

In  Vezelay  occurred  two  notable  gatherings  of  mediaeval 
history.  Here,  on  March  31,  1146,  St.  Bernard  preached 
the  Second  Crusade,  on  the  hillside  without  the  northern 
gate.  Abbot  Pons  built  on  the  site  the  chapel  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  wherein  was  preserved  the  tribune  on  which  the  saint 
had  stood.  The  leaders  of  France  flocked  into  this  valley 
of  Burgundy,  Louis  VII  and  his  brilliant  queen,  Alienor  of 
Aquitaine.1 

St.  Bernard  had  been  commissioned  by  the  pope  to  set 
the  new  venture  in  motion,  and  he  threw  his  whole  passionate 
heart  into  the  enterprise.  Standing  above  the  vast  gathering, 
he  read  the  papal  letter  that  told  of  Odessa's  fall,  two  years 
earlier,  and  the  horrifying  massacre  of  eastern  Christians. 
It  was  sound  statesmanship  that  discerned  the  menace  of  the 
Eastern  Question;  the  advance  of  the  Seljukian  Turk  was 
indeed  a  knotty  problem  for  the  XII  century,  when  XX- 
century  Europe,  after  oceans  of  blood,  has  not  settled  the 
trouble.  We  may  be  sure  that  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  used 
no  flatteries  in  addressing  the  throng  at  Vezelay,  if  his  public 
word  was  as  uncompromising  as  his  private  letters:  "Up! 

1  In  his  Via  Crucis,  F.  Marion  Crawford  has  described  the  great  gathering  at  Vezelay. 

439 


soldier  of  Christ!  Go,  expiate  your  sins!  The  breath  of 
corruption  is  on  every  side.  The  license  of  manners  is  un- 
checked. Brigandage  goes  unpunished.  Debout,  soldats  du 
Christ!"  We  know  that  his  words  of  flame  swept  the  crowd, 
and  that,  as  at  Clermont,  fifty  years  earlier,  again  rose  the 
cry:  "God  wills  it!  The  Cross!  The  Cross!"  The  seductive 
queen,  whose  equivocal  conduct  on  this  very  crusade  was  to 
start  centuries  of  calamity  for  France,  threw  herself  at  Ber- 
nard's feet,  to  receive  from  his  hand  the  Cross.  The  lowly 
people  jostled  with  the  lords  to  take  the  vow,  "les  menues 
gens  et  les  gens  de  grand  air"  for  crusades  were  democratic 
things  that  did  more  than  aught  else  to  break  up  feudal 
autocracy. 

The  eager  men  and  women  of  1146  knelt  in  the  actual  nave 
and  narthex  of  Vezelay's  abbatial.  The  choir  which  we 
have  to-day  was  not  yet  built.  In  1165  a  fire  damaged  the 
choir  of  the  Madeleine.  A  year  later  the  exiled  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  Thomas  Becket,  excommunicated  his  enemies 
in  England  from  Vezelay's  pulpit.  The  new  choir  was  built 
mainly  under  Abbot  Girard  d'Arcy  (1171-96),  and  is  Bur- 
gundy's Primary  Gothic,  though  a  generation  behind  the 
work  of  that  phase  in  the  Ile-de-France.  Unpracticed  hands 
made  its  vaulting,  whose  web  is  not  built  elastically  as  in 
the  true  Gothic  fashion;  the  stones  were  welded  in  a  compact 
mass  by  a  bath  of  mortar.  Viollet-le-Duc  suggested  that 
Abbot  Hugues,  deposed  by  the  pope  in  1206  for  indebtedness, 
may  have  expended  more  than  he  should  on  the  church. 

The  choir  was  well  advanced  when,  in  July  of  1191,  the  second 
great  gathering  at  Vezelay  occurred.  Here  Philippe-Auguste 
and  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion  met,  swore  eternal  friendship,  and 
then  marched  south  together  for  the  Third  Crusade.  Before 
ever  they  reached  Palestine  their  pact  of  good  will  was  broken, 
as  was  only  to  be  expected  with  the  virus  of  the  Capet-Angevin 
duel  in  their  veins.  Richard's  mother,  Alienor,  had  flouted 
Philippe's  father,  her  first  husband,  on  the  former  great 
enterprise  for  the  East  which  had  been  initiated  at  Vezelay. 
The  Madeleine  church  reconstructed  its  west  frontispiece  in 

440 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

the  XIII  century  in  order  to  light  better  its  narthex;  the 
pignon  is  overheavy  and  rather  odd. 

Three  times  St.  Louis  came  to  pray  in  the  famous  Burgundian 
pilgrim  church,  his  last  visit  being  a  few  months  before  his 
death  while  crusading  in  Africa.  Then,  in  Provence  in  1279, 
was  discovered  what  was  claimed  to  be  the  real  body  of  the 
Magdalene.  Before  the  XIII  century  was  ended  the  prestige 
of  Vezelay's  pilgrimages  was  a  thing  of  the  past.  The 
monastery's  ruin  was  consummated  during  the  religious  wars.1 
Such  was  the  decrepitude  into  which  the  splendid  church 
fell,  that  only  a  complete  restoration  by  Viollet-le-Duc,  from 
1840  to  1858,  saved  the  edifice  from  collapse. 

Because  Vezelay's  nave  belongs  to  Burgundy's  school  of 
Romanesque  it  is  spacious  and  amply  lighted;  no  gloom,  no 
cramping  here.  Such  a  nave  could  lead  up  to  a  Gothic  choir, 
without  sharp  contrast.  The  choir,  taken  by  itself,  may  be 
a  cold  work,  but  the  sublimity  of  its  setting  places  it  beyond 
criticism.  There  is  no  more  romatically  ideal  a  vista  in 
architecture  than  the  white  choir  of  Vezelay,  as  it  appears 
from  the  narthex  through  the  imaged  portico.  Seen  thus 
down  the  prospect  of  the  sober  nave  four  hundred  feet  away, 
it  rises  like  the  crusaders'  dream  of  the  Heavenly  Jerusalem. 

The  dominant  note  of  Vezelay's  interior  is  serenity.  Pace 
up  and  down  its  deserted  aisles  as  a  warm  June  day  fades. 
The  rose  glow  of  sunset  transmutes  the  coarse,  porous  stones 
to  glory  and  the  church  seems  voicing,  securo  e  gaudioso,  the 
grand  old  plain-chant  psalmody  which  through  long  centuries 
echoed  here.  With  you,  like  a  tangible  presence,  is  Faith's 
certitude,  the  certitude  of  John  the  Baptist  who  witnessed,  the 
vision  of  John  the  Evangelist  who  loved,  the  impassioned 
tranquillity  of  Mary  of  Magdala.  Here  reigns  the  benignant 
gladness,  benigna  letizia,  that  Da-nte  attributes  to  St.  Bernard 
in  Paradise.  The  luminous  stillness  of  Vezelay  testifies  that 
he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  He  is.  Here  Faith 


1  The  Huguenot  leader,  Theodore  de  Beze,  was  born  in  the  bourg  of  Vezelay.  His 
brother,  a  canon  in  the  church  of  St.  Lazare  at  Avallon,  espoused  the  opposite  side 
with  equal  zest. 

441 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

is  an  overwhelming  acquiescence  of  the  conscience  as  entire 
as  was  the  belief  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  XII  century 
who,  when  they  heard  the  preacher's  word,  responded  with 
the  cry:  "The  Cross!  The  Cross!"  In  the  solitary  abbatial 
of  to-day,  half  forgotten  on  a  bypath  of  the  world,  breathes 
the  living  quietude,  the  active  repose,  the  voluntary  discipline 
of  its  old  Benedictine  builders.  "Faith  is  the  substance  of 
things  to  be  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  that  appear 
not.  Without  faith,  it  is  impossible  to  please  God." 

Like  the  Tag,  in  India,  there  is  here  a  supersensual  art 
beauty  that  renews  the  jaded  spirit.  Both  have  been  embalmed 
for  eternity  in  a  vivifying  peace.  "Without  holiness  no  man 
shall  see  God,"  thought  the  faulty,  vehement,  crusading 
generations  who  prayed  in  Vezelay's  church,  and  holiness, 
then,  meant  primarily  the  humble  repentance  of  sins.  Who- 
ever it  was  built  the  tomb  of  the  Indian  princess  at  Agra,  who- 
ever it  was  built  the  church  in  Burgundy  called  after  Mary 
of  Magdala,  he  worked  in  something  more  than  stones  and 
mortar.  At  Agra  you  end  by  thinking  that  the  secret  of 
the  enthralling  magic  lies  in  the  marvel  of  atmosphere,  the 
deep  soft  shadows  which  break  the  dazzling  sun  expanses. 
At  Vezelay,  in  the  groping  effort  to  put  its  spell  into  words, 
you  end  by  saying  that  the  beauty  lies  in  the  space  which 
the  inclosing  walls  have  so  holily  shut  in.  But  what  analysis 
or  what  detailed  description  can  convey  how  the  spirit  is 
impressed  by  this  shrine,  named  for  the  Sinner  who  poured 
out  the  precious  ointment  with  a  Faith  and  Love  so  complete 
that  it  washed  her  clean! 

In  such  a  church  come  flashes  of  insight,  momentary  liftings 
of  the  veil,  periods  of  mental  fecundity  that  make  clear  why 
the  true  mystic  passes  without  loss  from  his  isolated  reverie 
of  Divine  Love  to  an  intensely  practical  activity,  and  when 
you  begin  to  understand  that  you  are  on  the  way  to  a  compre- 
hensive sympathy  with  that  pillar  of  French  Christianity, 
that  apostle  sent  of  God  as  surely  as  was  Paul  to  the  Gentiles — 
Bernard  the  Burgundian,  who  prayed  and  preached  in  this 
abbey  church. 

442 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

THE  GOTHIC  COLLEGIATE  AT  SEMUR-EN-AUXOIS ' 

Les  Francais,  fils  aines  de  1'antiquite",  Romain  par  le  g6nie,  sont  Grec 
par  le  caractere.  Inquiets  et  volages  dans  le  bonheur;  constant  et  in- 
vincibles  dans  1'aversite";  formes  pour  les  arts;  civilises  jusqu'  &  1'exces 
durant  le  calme  de  1'Etat;  grossiers  et  sauvages  dans  les  troubles  politiques; 
flottants  comme  des  vaisseaux  sans  lest  au  gre"  des  passions;  enthusiastes 
du  bien  et  du  mal ;  aimants  pusillanimes  de  la  vie  pendant  la  paix ;  prodigues 
de  leur  jours  dans  les  batailles;  charmants  dans  leur  pays;  insupportable 
chez  1'^tranger;  tels  furent  les  Atheniens  d'autrefois,  tels  sont  les  Frangais 
d'aujourd'hui. — CHATEAUBEIAKD. 

If  the  traveler  has  chosen  little  Avallon  as  the  center  from 
which  to  explore  Burgundian  churches,  Semur-en-Auxois, 
lying  a  few  miles  to  its  east,  will  soon  be  visited.  Picturesque 
and  well  kept,  it  is  perched  on  a  crest  round  which  loops  the 
river,  a  site  such  as  a  feudal  baron  chose,  when  possible,  for 
his  lair.  The  donjon  towers  at  Semur  belonged  to  a  fortress 
built  by  Duke  Philippe  le  Hardi. 

The  collegiate  church  of  Notre  Dame,  included  with  the  best 
Gothic  work  in  Burgundy,  derived  indirectly  from  the  choir  of 
Auxerre  Cathedral,  through  the  church  of  Our  Lady  at  Dijon. 
About  1225  the  builders  began  to  replace  the  Xl-centuy- 
Notre  Dame  at  Semur  by  the  present  edifice,  which  repro- 
duced the  columnal  piers  with  salient  crockets  that  distin- 
guish the  most  beautiful  of  Dijon's  churches.  By  1250  they 
had  terminated  the  choir,  transept,  and  the  bay  of  the  nave 
touching  the  transept.  The  nave  and  transept  are  too  narrow 
for  their  height,  because  they  followed  the  same  ground  plan 
as  the  antecedent  Romanesque  church.  Burgundy  seemed 
to  enjoy  a  problem  in  construction.  Here,  the  arches  of  the 
vault  being  excessively  pointed,  the  flying  buttresses  were 
made  with  a  radius  greater  than  is  to  be  found  elsewhere. 

Early  in  the  XIV  century,  three  new  bays  were  added  to 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1907.,  p.  G4,  Pierre  de  Truchis;  Abbe  Bouzerand,  Memoirs 
sur  Veglise  Notre  Dame  de  Semur,  1864;  ibid.,  Hinloire  generate  de  Semur-en-Auxois; 
Ledeuil,  Notice  sur  Semur-en-Auxois  (Semur-en-Auxois,  1880);  Taylor  et  Nodier, 
Voyage  pittoresque  et  romantique  dans  Vandenne  France.  Bourgogne  (Paris,  Didot, 
1863),  folio;  Max  Quantin,  Repertoire  archeol.  du  departemcnt  de  VYonne  (Paris,  1908); 
Eugene  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "  Les  caracteres  distinct  if  s  des  ecoles  gothique  de  la  Cham- 
pagne et  de  la  Bourgogne,"  in  Congres  Archeologique,  1907,  p.  516. 

443 


the  nave,  as  is  shown  by  their  main  arches,  which  are  more 
pointed  than  those  of  the  earlier  bays.  Then  about  1370, 
probably  after  a  fire,  the  nave's  stone  roof  was  rebuilt  and 
its  triforium  suppressed.  The  religious  wars  of  the  XVI 
century  played  havoc  here  in  Notre  Dame.  During  the 
Revolution,  for  two  entire  weeks,  cartload  after  cartload  of 
art  treasures  was  carried  away  from  the  collegiate.  Happily, 
the  transept's  northern  portal  escaped  destruction,  for  it  is 
a  small  masterpiece  of  Burgundian  sculpture.  Its  tympanum 
relates  the  adventures  in  India  of  St.  Thomas  the  Apostle, 
whose  builder's  rule  was  said  to  be  of  gold,  in  emblem  of  his 
spiritual  masoncraft.  St.  Jerome  would  not  sanction  the 
Indian  legends  of  the  architect  apostle,  but  the  story  of 
King  Goldoforus  and  St.  Thomas  lingered  in  popular  favor. 

In  one  of  the  chapels  of  Semur's  collegiate  church  is  a 
XlV-century  window  dedicated  to  no  saint,  telling  no  Scrip- 
tural story,  but  merely  setting  forth,  in  large,  clear  panels, 
the  working  day  of  various  artisans — dyer,  vintager,  butcher, 
tailor.  The  theologians  who  directed  the  iconography  of 
mediaeval  churches  permitted  the  old  guildsmen  to  translate 
into  sign  language  their  sensible  idea  that  honest  work  was 
prayer. 

The  keystone  over  the  sanctuary  of  Notre  Dame,  where 
eight  ribs  meet,  is  the  most  beautiful  ever  carved — a  Corona- 
tion of  the  Virgin.  Throughout  the  church  the  sculpture 
is  exceptional.  In  the  choir  and  transept,  carved  heads  lean 
out  from  the  triforium's  spandrels,  heads  of  monarch,  bishop, 
monk,  nun,  and  chatelaine,  with  here  and  there  a  grinning 
mask  or  grotesque.  The  restorer  has  followed  a  wrong  path 
when  he  makes  the  exaggerated  images  in  XHI-century 
sculpture  exceed  the  ideal  or  realistic  ones.  Semur's  tri- 
forium is  among  the  most  beautiful  in  Gothic  art.  On  some 
of  the  capitals  of  the  collegiate  are  vintage  scenes,  as  was 
natural  in  this  land  of  famous  wines.  There  are  noted  modern 
vineyards,  such  as  Chambertin  and  Vougeot,  which  were 
cultivated  by  the  monks  of  Cluny  and  Citeaux  for  many  a 
long  century. 

444 


THE   GOTHIC   ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  AUXERRE l 

J'erre  &  pas  muets  dans  ce  profond  asile, 

Solitude  de  pierre,  immuable,  immobile, 

Image  du  s£jour  par  Dieu  meme  habitd, 

Ou  tout  est  profondeur,  mystere,  eternite1  .  .  . 

La  voix  du  clocher  en  son  doux  s'eVapore; 

Et,  le  front  appuye,  centre  un  pilier  sonore, 

Je  le  sens,  tout  emu  du  retentissement, 

Vibrer  comme  une  clef  d'un  celeste  instrument  .  .  . 

Les  rayons  du  soir  que  1'Occident  rappelle, 

Eteignent  au  vitraux  leur  derniere  4tincelle, 

Au  fond  du  sanctuaire  un  feu  flottant  qui  luit, 

Scintille  comme  un  ceil  ouvert  sur  cette  nuit; 

Alors,  portant  mes  yeux  des  pav£s  a  la  voute 

Je  sens  que  dans  ce  vide  une  oreille  m'6coute, 

Qu'un  invisible  ami  dans  la  nef  r^pandu, 

M'attire  a  lui,  me  parle  un  langage  entendu, 

Se  communique  a  moi  dans  un  silence  intime 

Et  dans  son  vaste  sein  m'enveloppe  et  m'abime. 

— LAMAKTINE  (1790-1869;    born  in  Burgundy). 

At  Auxerre,  on  the  Yonne,  two  Gothic  edifices  stand  im- 
posingly above  the  city,  the  cathedral  of  St.  Stephen  and  the 
abbatial  church  named  after  that  bishop  of  Auxerre,  St. 
Germain,  who  foretold  the  sanctity  of  la  pucellette  Genevieve 
in  the  village  of  Nanterre  by  Paris,  and  whose  own  sanctity 
was  so  assured  that  more  churches  have  been  called  for  him 
than  for  any  other  saint  of  France  save  the  supreme  St. 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1850,  p.  22;  and  1907,  p.  167,  Charles  Poree;  p.  599, 
Camilla  Enlart,  on  the  sculptured  doors  of  Auxerre  Cathedral:  Camille  Enlart,  La 
cathedrale  d' Auxerre  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  A. 
Cherest,  La  cathedrale  d' Auxerre.  Conferences  d' Auxerre  (Auxerre,  1868);  Emile 
Lambin,  "  La  cathedrale  d'Auxerre,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1897,  vol.  47,  p.  383; 
Charles  Poree,  "  Le  chceur  de  la  cathedrale  d'Auxerre,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental, 
1906,  vol.  70,  p.  251;  Louise  Pillion,  "Sculpture  de  la  cathedrale  d'Auxerre,"  in 
Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1905,  p.  278;  Viollet-le-Duc,  Dictionnaire  de  I' architecture, 
vol.  4,  p.  131,  on  construction;  vol.  9,  p.  447,  on  vitrail;  Victor  Petit,  "  Description 
des  villes  et  campagnes  du  departement  de  1'Yonne"  (Auxerre,  1876).  In  the  Annuaire 
de  I' Yonne,  earlier  studies  on  Auxerre  are,  1841,  p.  38,  F.  de  Lasteyrie;  1843,  p.  128, 
V.  Petit;  1846,  p.  207,  and  1847,  p.  141,  Challe;  1872,  p.  161,  and  1873,  p.  3,  Daudin; 
Andre  Philippe,  "  L'architecture  religieuse  au  XIe  et  au  XIIe  siecle  dans  Pancien 
diocese  d'Auxerre,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1904,  vol.  68,  passim.  Other  notices 
on  Auxerre  in  the  Bulletin  Monumental  are,  1847,  vol.  13,  p.  153,  and  1849,  vol.  15, 
p.  145,  Victor  Petit;  1872,  vol.  38,  pp.  494,  744,  Victor  Petit;  Abbe  Lebeuf,  Histoire 
d'Auxerre;  E.  Moulton,  La  guerre  au  XV Ie  siecle  (Paris,  H.  Laurens). 

445 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Martin  himself.  Paris  put  her  church  of  St.  Germain  1'Auxer- 
rois  under  his  protection.  He  had  been  the  ruler  of  this  region 
of  middle  France  under  the  Emperor  Honorius,  and  was  a 
soldier  and  devoted  to  sports;  yet  the  old  bishop  of  Auxerre, 
St.  Amatre,  chose  him  as  his  successor,  divining  in  him  a  man 
destined  to  do  great  things  for  God. 

The  splendid  abbey  church  at  Auxerre  stands  on  the  site 
of  the  oratory  which  rose  over  the  grave  of  St.  Germain. 
Queen  Clotilde  on  her  way  to  wed  Clovis,  pausing  here  in 
490,  renewed  the  shrine  by  a  church,  which  became  the 
nucleus  for  an  abbey  favored  by  all  three  dynasties  of  France — 
Merovingian,  Carolingian,  and  Capetian.1  The  monastery 
was  a  noted  school  whither  came  St.  Patrick,  and  many 
generations  later  St.  Thomas  Becket  studied  here  after  he 
had  finished  his  law  courses  at  Bologna. 

In  memory  of  Auxerre's  reputation  as  a  teacher,  the  ca- 
thedral has  twice  represented  the  Liberal  Arts,  in  glass  and 
in  sculpture.  The  choir  of  St.  Etienne  Cathedral  was  begun 
about  1215  by  a  well-known  schoolman,  Bishop  Guillaume 
de  Seignelay,  who  undertook  it  at  his  own  expense,  stimulated 
thereto  by  some  of  the  parish  churches  which  had  lately  been 
rebuilt  in  the  new  way.  The  crypt  (c.  1130),  retained  under 
the  choir  of  the  new  cathedral,  had  been  begun  by  the  bishop, 
St.  Hugues  de  Chalons,  a  friend  of  St.  Bernard,  and  probably 


1  St.  Germain's  abbatial  is  less  pure  Gothic  than  the  cathedral's  choir.  Beneath 
its  sanctuary  are  two  superimposed  crypts,  the  lower  one  of  the  IX  century,  and  that 
above  it  belonging  to  the  Xlll-century  reconstruction  of  the  abbey  church.  Confla- 
grations wiped  out  several  early  churches  of  the  monastery.  In  the  XII  century 
rose  the  Romanesque  tower — one  of  the  best  in  France;  until  1820  it  was  attached 
to  the  nave.  A  total  reconstruction  of  the  abbatial  was  necessary  in  1277,  but  after 
the  upper  crypt  and  the  choir  were  undertaken  there  came  a  pause.  The  abbot  here 
(1309-39),  who  erected  the  crenelated  inclosure  walls  of  the  monastery,  resumed 
the  church  as  Rayonnant  Gothic.  Urban  V,  the  greatest  of  the  Avignon  patrons 
of  art  and  letters,  had  been  abbot  of  St.  Germain  (1352),  and  his  arms  were  cut  on 
a  keystone  of  the  new  nave,  to  which  he  contributed,  as  did  his  successor,  Gregory 
XI.  Soon  after  the  church  was  completed  it  was  pillaged  during  the  religious  wars. 
Napoleon  turned  the  establishment  into  a  hospital,  which  it  still  is.  Congres  Archeo- 
logique,  1907,  p.  182,  C.  Poree;  p.  627,  Jules  Tillet;  Abbe  V.  B.  Henry,  Histoire  de 
Vabbaye  de  St.  Germain  d' Auxerre  (Auxerre,  Gallot,  1853);  Victor  Petit,  "  Les  cryptes 
de  St.  Germain  d'Auxerre,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1872,  vol.  38,  p.  494;  Viollet- 
le-Duc,  Dictionnaire  de  I' Architecture,  vol.  3,  p.  377. 

446 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

finished  by  his  successor,  Hugues  de  Macon  (1137-51),  the 
first  abbot  of  Pontigny,  and  St.  Bernard's  kinsman  and 
childhood  intimate.  Of  the  cathedral  of  their  day  only  the 
present  crypt  remains. 

When  Bishop  Guillaume  de  Seignelay  was  transferred  to 
the  see  of  Paris,  in  1220,  he  worked  on  the  west  fagade  of 
Notre  Dame  of  the  capital,  and  his  successor  at  Auxerre, 
Henri  de  Villeneuve,  completed  the  choir  of  St.  Etienne  in 
1234.  Two  lancets  in  the  sanctuary  are  his  gifts.  The  ca- 
thedral of  Auxerre  was  building  at  both  ends,  while  between 
lay  the  ancient  Romanesque  nave.  The  easternmost  bay  of 
the  nave  is  XIII  century,  but  the  next  five  bays  were  erected 
only  during  the  XIV  century,  at  which  time  most  of  the 
statues  of  the  western  portals  were  done.  With  the  choir's 
superb  stained  glass  they  form  the  supreme  accessory  of  this 
cathedral.  M.  Enlart  holds  Auxerre's  imagery  to  be,  for 
delicacy  and  charm,  among  the  best  produced  by  the  XIV 
century,  and  that  the  statuettes  of  the  Liberal  Arts,  in  the 
spandrels  over  the  canopies  of  the  David-Balthazar  groups, 
are  equal  to  Greek  terra-cotta  figurines.  The  Judgment  of 
Solomon  by  the  northwest  door  is  excellent.  Within  and 
without  the  stonecutting  of  the  transept's  southern  fagade 
should  be  observed.  At  that  entrance  appeared  an  early 
example  of  an  accoladed  arch,  cited  by  M.  Enlart  as  an  indi- 
cation of  the  English  derivation  of  Flamboyant  Gothic  in 
France,  since  during  the  XIV  century  they  were  masters  of 
Auxerre  for  a  time. 

As  the  Hundred  Years'  War  relaxed  building  enterprise,  the 
nave  was  not  covered  by  a  masonry  roof  till  the  XV  century, 
about  the  time  when  Jeanne  d'Arc  paused  to  pray  in  Auxerre 
Cathedral  on  her  memorable  journey  of  eleven  days  from 
Lorraine  to  Touraine,  across  a  France  ravaged  by  civil  and 
foreign  wars.1  The  gracious  Flamboyant  west  front  of 


1  At  her  trial  in  Rouen  Jeanne  spoke  of  Auxerre  Cathedral:  "  En  route,  je  traversal 
Auxerre,  ouj'entendis  la  mcsse  dans  la  principale  eglise.  .  .  .  Alors,  j' avals  frequemment 
Tries  voix."  Marius  Sepet,  Au  temps  de  la  Puccllc,  recits  et  tableaux  (Paris,  P.  Tequi, 
1905). 

447 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Auxerre's  chief  church  is  an  expression  of  the  hope  and  national 
pride  renewed  in  France  by  the  Maid's  feat  at  Orleans.  The 
well-designed  north  tower  proves  that  the  final  phase  of 
Gothic  art  in  France  did  not  pass  away  in  decrepitude;  had 
only  the  south  tower  been  raised  above  the  roof,  this  frontis- 
piece could  claim  foremost  rank. 

For  bold  and  light  construction  Auxerre's  choir  is  notable, 
and  it  made  a  school  in  Burgundian  Gothic.  It  has  only  one 
radiating  chapel — that  in  the  axis — because  it  followed  the 
ground  plan  of  the  Romanesque  crypt,  its  foundation.  The 
charming  Champagne  disposition  of  planting  columns  between 
chapel  and  ambulatory  was  made  use  of;  perhaps  the  pillars 
and  stilted  arches  of  Auxerre  are  rather  too  frail  in  their 
proportions.  •  The  same  feature  was  used  in  the  abbey  church 
of  St.  Germain,  and  when  the  church  of  St.  Eusebe  *  rebuilt 
its  chevet,  in  the  XV  century,  pillars  were  again  placed  to 
divide  the  curving  aisle  and  the  radiating  chapels. 

Auxerre  Cathedral  showed  another  trait  of  the  Champagne 
school  of  Gothic — an  interior  passageway  beneath  the  aisle 
windows.  The  plain  wall  below  it  is  relieved  by  a  kind  of 
arched  corbel  course  not  very  satisfactory;  the  arches  and 
the  capitals  upon  which  they  rest  are  present,  but  there  is  no 
shaft  to  support  the  capitals,  from  above  each  of  which 
reaches  out  a  well-sculptured  head.  One  of  these  busts 
represents  the  Erythraean  priestess  referred  to  in  the  Dies  iras: 

That  day  of  wrath,  that  dreadful  day, 
When  Heaven  and  Earth  shall  pass  away, 
As  David  and  the  Sibyl  say. 

1  The  abbey  church  at  St.  Eusebe  is  of  archaeological  interest.  The  octagonal 
tower  over  its  altar,  forming  internally  a  lantern,  is  of  the  XII  century,  as  are  the 
piers  and  their  arches.  A  pause  came  between  the  making  of  the  nave's  lower  and 
upper  parts,  for  the  church  did  not  follow  the  usual  custom  of  advancing  bay  by  bay, 
but  was  constructed  story  by  story.  The  west  front  is  full  Gothic,  and  the  ambulatory 
of  the  XIII  century.  The  original  choir  was  in  large  part  replaced  by  the  present 
well-built  Flamboyant  Gothic  one,  finished  by  1530.  What  used  to  be  the  episcopal 
palace  of  Auxerre  is  to-day  the  Prefecture.  It  shows,  in  its  wall  on  the  river  side, 
the  Romanesque  gallery  built  by  Bishop  Hugues  de  Chalons  (1116-36).  Its  hall, 
with  pignons  alike  at  both  ends,  was  erected  by  Bishop  Guillaume  dc  Mello  (1247-70). 
Congres  Archeologique,  1907,  p.  188;  Corberon,  Auxerre,  ses  monuments;  Lescuyer, 
"  Notice  sur  1'eglise  de  St.  Eusebe,"  in  VAnnuaire  de  VYonne,  1839,  p.  318;  1845, 
p.  103,  "  St.  Eusebe,"  Max  Quantin. 

448 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

The  XIII  century  distinguished  only  that  one  sibyl  whom 
St.  Augustine's  City  of  God  had  popularized  as  the  prophetess 
of  the  Last  Judgment,  but  later  in  the  Middle  Ages  all  ten  of 
them  were  represented,  and  certain  Renaissance  windows 
represented  as  many  as  twelve  pagan  prophetesses. 

The  placing  of  sculptured  heads  in  the  spandrels  of  arches  was 
not  infrequent  in  Burgundy,  though  occasionally  merely  one 
salient  crocket  was  used.  The  cathedral  of  Nevers,1  south 
of  Auxerre,  went  a  step  farther  and  chiseled  a  small  figurine 
in  the  spandrels  of  its  triforium,  like  the  angels  of  Lincoln's 
choir.  Moreover,  the  colonettes  of  Nevers'  triforium  are 
borne  on  the  backs  of  small  crouching  caryatides — a  Lombard 
echo.  In  France,  Nevers'  cathedral  of  St.  Cyr  was  excep- 
tional in  having  an  apse  at  both  east  and  west  ends,  like  a 
Rhenish  church.  One  is  forced  to  relegate  the  beautiful 
little  capital  of  the  Nivermois  to  a  footnote,  which  is  what 
France  herself  seems  to  be  doing  to  the  well-set  town  on  the 
Loire  which  in  England  or  beyond  the  Rhine  would  be  made 
into  a  small  residence  city.  Its  palace,  parks,  cathedral,  and 
numerous  churches,  its  faience  industry  and  fortifications 
give  it  the  air  of  a  little  capital. 

Auxerre  is  another  Mecca  of  stained  glass  in  France.  Its 
choir  possesses  almost  forty  windows  (1220-30)  of  the  school 
of  Chartres,  half  of  them  being  in  the  ambulatory  and  Lady 


1  The  west  apse  of  Nevers'  Cathedral,  dedicated  to  St.  Juliette,  mother  of  the  child 
martyr,  St.  Cyr,  formed,  with  its  crypt  and  transept,  part  of  the  Xll-century  Roman- 
esque edifice.  Late  in  the  XIII  century  was  built  a  Gothic  nave,  which  was  recon- 
structed after  a  fire  in  1308,  and  again  its  outer  walls  were  reconstructed  in  the  Flam- 
boyant Gothic  day.  The  present  choir  dates  from  the  XIV  century.  The  fine 
tower  at  the  transept's  southern  facade  was  built  1506  to  1528.  Nevers'  former 
ducal  palace,  of  the  XV  century,  stands  on  a  park  overlooking  the  Loire.  The  Roman- 
esque abbey  church  of  St.  Etienne,  founded,  tradition  says,  by  St.  Columbanus, 
combines  the  schools  of  Auvergne  and  Burgundy,  and  is  important  to  archieologists 
because  the  date  of  its  building,  1063  to  1097,  is  certain.  The  expense  of  constructing 
it  caused  the  Count  of  Nevers  to  forego  the  First  Crusade.  Bishop  Ives  of  Chartres 
consecrated  the  church  in  1097.  Congres  Arckeologique,  1913,  p.  300,  Louis  Serbat; 
Gaston  Congny,  Bourges  et  Nevers;  J.  Locquin,  Nevers  et  Moulins  (Collection,  Villes 
d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  Monseigneur  Crosnier,  Monographic  de  la  cathe- 
drale  de  Nevers  (1854);  Abbe  Sery,  Les  deux  apsides  de  la  calhedrale  de  Nevers  (1899); 
Morellet,  Barat,  et  Bussiere,  Le  Nivermois  (1810),  2  vols.;  Paul  Meunier,  Nevers  his- 
torique  et  pittoresque  (1901). 

449 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

chapel.  Unfortunately,  the  lower  panels  were  wrecked  in  1567, 
and  the  east  window  of  the  axis  chapel  was  destroyed  in  the 
Franco-Prussian  war;  the  grisaille  design  throughout  is  mas- 
tery. The  opaline  loveliness  of  the  choir's  clearstory  grisaille 
has  drawn  from  M.  Viollet-le-Duc  one  of  his  most  eloquent 
pages.1  Each  bay  is  filled  with  twin  lancets  surmounted  by 
a  rose;  each  lancet  has  a  large  figure  set  in  uncolored  glass — 
one  of  the  first  attempts  made  to  give  more  light  to  an  interior. 
Those  crusading  generations  visioned  their  Heavenly  Jeru- 
salem in  sculpture  at  Vezelay,  in  color  at  Auxerre: 

With  jaspers  glow  thy  bulwarks, 

Thy  streets  with  emeralds  blaze, 
The  sardius  and  the  topaz 

Unite  in  thee  their  rays: 
Thine  ageless  walls  are  bonded 

With  amethyst  unpriced; 
The  saints  build  up  its  fabric, 

And  the  corner  stone  is  Christ. 

They  stand,  those  halls  of  Zion, 

Conjubilant  with  song, 
And  bright  with  many  an  angel, 

And  all  the  martyr  throng: 
The  Prince  is  ever  in  them; 

Their  daylight  is  serene, 

1  "  Because  the  pearly  white  surfaces  of  the  grisaille  would  make  the  adjacent 
colored  surfaces  appear  heavy  and  opaque,  they  introduced,  into  these  latter,  limpid 
blues  and  yellows,  very  light  reds,  whites  with  a  greenish  or  rosy  tint.  In  the  high 
windows  of  the  cathedral  of  Auxerre  they  first  tried  this  method,  and  here  the  gri- 
saille is  chased  with  a  large  and  firm  design  that  offsets  the  transparency  of  the  color- 
less surfaces.  Notice  how  the  pedestal  and  the  canopy,  both  very  light,  bind  together 
the  bands  of  grisaille  on  either  side,  while  the  latter  is  heavily  painted  with  a  trellis 
and  rich  ornaments.  In  Auxerre,  the  grisaille  is  found  only  in  the  lateral  windows 
which  are  seen  obliquely.  The  apse  windows,  meant  to  be  seen,  in  face  and  from  a 
distance,  are  filled  with  color.  The  lateral  windows  are  sufficiently  opaque  to  prevent 
the  solar  rays  which  pass  through  them  from  lighting  the  colored  windows  on  the 
reverse  side.  At  certain  hours  the  luminous  rays  throw  a  pearly  light  on  the  colored 
windows,  imparting  to  them  a  transparency  of  tone  and  a  delicacy  impossible  to 
describe.  The  opalescent  light  from  the  lateral  windows  makes  a  sort  of  veil  of  extreme 
transparency  under  the  lofty  vaults,  and  is  pierced  by  the  brilliant  tones  of  the  apse 
windows,  producing  the  sparkle  of  jewels.  Solid  outlines  then  seem  to  waver  like 
objects  seen  through  a  sheet  of  limpid  water.  Distance  changes  values  and  gains 
a  depth  in  which  the  eye  loses  itself.  Hourly  during  the  day  these  effects  are  modified, 
and  always  with  new  harmonies  of  which  one  never  wearies  trying  to  understand." 
— VIOLLET-LE-DUC,  Dictionnaire  de  V architecture,  vol.  9,  p.  447. 
450 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

The  pastures  of  the  blessed 
Are  decked  in  glorious  sheen. 

There  is  the  throne  of  David, 

And  there,  from  care  released, 
The  song  of  them  that  triumph, 

The  shout  of  them  that  feast; 
And  they  who,  with  their  leader, 

Have  conquered  in  the  fight, 
For  ever  and  for  ever 

Are  clad  in  robes  of  white.1 

In  the  roses  of  the  two  bays  neighboring  the  central  lancets 
are  the  Liberal  Arts  and  virtues  contrasted  with  vices.  The 
choir  aisle  has  a  Creation  window,  and  lancets  of  the  popular 
St.  James,  St.  Nicolas,  and  St.  Eustace.  The  transept's  south 
rose  is  Rayonnant.  Its  north  one  is  Flamboyant,  and  with  the 
eight  golden  lights  below  it  was  given  by  Bishop  Frangois  de 
Dinteville,  the  younger  (1530-52),  who  donated  also  the  Gloria 
in  Excelsis  west  rose.  But  no  sooner  were  all  these  precious 
things  installed  when  came  the  bitter  civil  wars  of  the  XVI 
century.  No  place  in  France  suffered  more  than  Auxerre. 
An  eyewitness  of  the  1567  sacking  wrote:  "All  the  woes  of 
Jerusalem  when  it  fell  to  the  infidel  are  heaped  on  our  city." 
Many  a  citizen  died  of  grief  at  the  town's  desolation,  and  so 
devastated  was  every  single  church  that  for  months  no  services 
were  held. 

A  restoration  was  accomplished  by  Bishop  Jacques  Amyot 
(1571-93),  the  noted  Hellenist,  who  first  brought  flexibility 
and  amenity  into  French  prose.2  His  translation  of  Plutarch — 
a  French  classic — molded  the  ideals  of  French  youth  for 
generations.  Unfortunately,  because  imported  foreign  taste 
had  won  the  victory  over  the  national  art,  this  enlightened 
Renaissance  prelate  removed  some  of  the  ancient  windows  to 
light  his  high  altar.  His  marble  bust  adorns  a  pier  of  the 
choir  of  Auxerre  Cathedral. 

1  John  Mason  Neale,  translator  of  "  The  Rhythm  of  Bernard  of  Morlaix"  (c.  1140), 
in  Collected  Hymns,  Sequences,  and  Carols  (London,  Hodder  &  Stoughton,  1914),  p.  19. 

2  "  Je  donne  la  palme  a  Jacques  Amyot  sur  tout  nos  ecrivains  frangais." — MONTAIGNE. 
"  Quand  il  s'agit  d'une  jolie  et  gracieuse  naivete  de  langage,  on  dit  aussitot  pour 

le  definir:   C'est  de  la  langue  d'Amyot." — SAINTE-BEUVE. 

451 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 
DIJON  * 

Eternal,  je  me  tais;    en  ta  sainte  presence 
Je  n'ose  respirer,  et  mon  ame  en  silence 

Admire  la  hauteur  de  ton  nom  glorieux. 
Que  dirai-je?     Abime*s  de  cette  mer  profonde, 
Pendant  qu'&  1'infini  ta  clarte"  nous  inonde, 

Pouvons-nous  seulement  ouvrir  nos  faibles  yeux? 

Cessez:    qu'  espe"rez-vous  de  vos  incertitudes, 
Vains  pensers,  vains  efforts,  inutiles  Etudes? 

C'est  assez  qu'il  ait  dit:    "Je  suis  Celui  qui  suis." 
II  est  tout,  il  n'est  rien  de  tout  ce  que  je  pense; 
Avec  ces  mots  profonds  j'adore  son  essence 

Et  sans  y  raisonner,  en  croyant,  je  poursuis! 
— BOSSUET,  Tibi  silentium  laus  (1627-1704;  born  in  Dijon). 

And  finally  we  come  to  the  capital  of  Burgundy,  to  a  city 
of  prime  importance  in  the  art  history  of  France,  although 
it  can  claim  no  one  supreme  monument.  Dijon's  leadership 
was  from  1364  to  1477,  under  the  four  art-loving  Valois 
princes,  Philippe  le  Hardi  (1364-1404),  Jean  sans  Peur  (1404- 
19),  Philippe  le  Bon  (1419-67),  and  Charles  le  Temeraire 
(1467-77).  "Never,"  says  Brantome,  "were  there  four  greater 
princes  one  after  the  other  than  the  great  dukes  of  Burgundy." 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1907,  on  Dijon,  Charles  Poree;  p.  546,  "  Les  caracteres 
distinctifs  des  ecoles  gothiques  de  la  Champagne  et  de  la  Bourgogne,"  E.  Lefevre- 
Pontalis;  A.  Kleinclausz,  Dijon  et  Beaune  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris, 
H.  Laurens);  ibid.,  "  L'art  funeraire  de  la  Bourgogne,"  in  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts, 
1901-02;  ibid.,  Claus  Sluter  et  la  sculpture  bourguignonne  au  XVe  siecle  (Paris,  1906); 
Abbe  L.  Chomton,  Histoire  de  I'eglise  St.  Benigne  de  Dijon  (Dijon,  1900),  folio;  G. 
T.  Rivoira,  Lombardic  Architecture,  vol.  2,  chap.  1,  on  St.  Benigne  (tr.  London  and 
New  York,  1910);  Chanoine  Thomas,  fipigraphie  de  Notre  Dame  de  Dijon  (1904); 
H.  Chabeuf,  "  Tete  sculptee  a  Notre  Dame  de  Dijon,"  in  Revue  de  Vart  chretien,  1900, 
vol.  43,  p.  472;  ibid.,  Dijon,  monuments  et  souvenirs  (Dijon,  Damudot,  1894);  H. 
Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artistique  et  monumental,  vol.  6,  p.  26,  Cunisset-Carnot; 
Alphonse  Germain,  Les  Neerlandais  en  Bourgogne,  1909;  Raymond  Koechlin,  La 
sculpture  beige  et  les  influences  franqaises  au  XIIIs  siecle  (Paris,  1903) ;  Louis  Courajod, 
Lemons  professees  a  VEcole  du  Louvre,  1887-96.  Vol.  2,  Origines  de  la  Renaissance 
(Paris,  Picard  et  fils,  1901),  3  vols.  On  the  sculpture  at  Dijon,  see  MM.  Paul  Vitry, 
Louis  Gonse,  Leon  Palustre,  Andre  Michel;  A.  Humbert,  Sculpture  en  Bourgogne 
(Paris,  H.  Laurens);  Ernest  Petit,  Hist,  des  dues  de  Bourgogne  de  la  race  capetienne 
(Dijon,  1905),  9  vols.;  B.  de  Barante,  Hist,  des  dues  de  Bourgogne  de  la  maison  de 
Valois  (Paris,  1825),  12  vols.;  Petit-Dutaillis,  Charles  VII,  Louis  XI,  et  les  premieres 
annees  de  Charles  VIII  (Paris,  Hachette,  1902);  Abbe  Chevalier,  Le  venerable  Guil- 
laume,  abbe  de  St.  Benigne  (Dijon,  1875). 

452 


Notre  Dame  at  Dijon  (1230-1245).     Burgundian  Gothic 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

Each  in  turn  on  his  formal  entry  into  Dijon  came  to  the 
abbey  church  of  St.  Benigne  to  take  oath  to  defend  the 
special  privileges  of  his  capital.  Tradition  says  that  St. 
Benignus  was  sent  to  Christianize  Gaul  by  St.  Polycarp,  who 
had  known  John  the  Evangelist.  The  hypothesis  is  possible, 
since  it  is  historically  certain  that  Polycarp  provided  Lyons 
with  its  first  two  bishops.  Many  a  son  of  Dijon  has  borne 
the  revered  name  of  Benigne,  none  with  greater  honor  for  his 
native  city  than  Bossuet,  descended  from  ancient  parliamen- 
tary stock.  The  neo-classic  taste  of  the  great  preacher's  day 
might  prevent  his  knowing  Gothic  architecture  rightly,  but 
without  the  centuries  that  built  mediaeval  cathedrals  he  had 
not  been  what  he  was.1 

Dijon  became  the  capital  of  Burgundy  under  the  first  line 
of  Capetian  dukes  who  governed  the  province  from  1032  to 
1361  and  who  gave  the  city  its  franchise  and  privileges.  A 
duke  of  Burgundy  led  the  right  wing  at  Bouvines,  another 
fought  under  St.  Louis  at  Mansourah.  From  Burgundy's 
reigning  line  came  Pope  Calixtus  II  (1119-24),  whose  brother 


1  "  La  gloire  de  Bossuet  est  devenue  1'une  des  religions  de  la  France;  on  la  recon- 
nait,  on  la  proclame,  on  s'honore  soi-meme  en  y  apportant  chaque  jour  un  nouveau 
tribut.  Bossuet,  c'est  le  genie  hebreu,  etendu,  feconde  par  le  Christianisme,  et 
ouvert  a  toutes  les  acquisitions  de  1'intelligence,  mais  retenant  quelque  chose  de 
1'interdiction  souveraine.  II  est  la  voix  eloquente  par  excellence,  la  plus  simple,  la 
plus  forte,  la  plus  brusque,  la  plus  familiere,  la  plus  soudainement  tonnante."- 
SAINTE-BEUVE. 

No  city  has  been  more  prolific  in  notable  sons  than  Dijon,  where,  as  Voltaire  said, 
"  le  merite  de  Vesprit  semble  etre  un  des  caracteres  des  citoycns."  Among  them  are 
Rameau,  the  musician  (1683-1764),  who  founded  French  opera  and  discovered  im- 
portant laws  in  harmony;  he  and  his  descendants  were  exempted  from  tithes  by  their 
native  city;  Dubois,  the  sculptor  (1626-94),  whose  Assumption  and  the  high  altar 
of  Notre  Dame,  Dijon,  are  his  best  works;  the  critic  and  philologist,  La  Monnaye 
(b.  1641);  the  playwright,  Crebillon  (d.  1762);  Piron,  the  wilty  epigrammatist 
(d.  1773);  the  learned  President  de  Brosse  (1709-77),  whose  Lettres  d'llalie  are  full 
of  Burgundian  vivacity  and  salt,  and  whose  friend,  Buffon,  the  naturalist  (1707-88), 
though  born  at  Montbard,  was  educated  in  Dijon,  where  his  father  was  counselor 
in  the  parliament.  The  grandmother  of  Madame  de  Sevigne,  St.  Jeanne  Frangoise 
de  Chantal,  founder  of  the  Visitation  Order,  was  born  at  17  rue  Jeannin,  1572.  Her 
father  was  a  president  of  Dijon's  parliament.  The  sculptor  Rude  was  a  son  of  Dijon 
(d.  1855),  and  in  this  same  city  that  had  produced  St.  Bernard  and  Bossuet,  the 
most  eloquent  preacher  of  the  XIX  century,  Lacordaire,  spent  his  childhood  and 
youth,  as  his  mother  came  of  an  old  legal  family  here.  Leon  Deshairs,  Dijon,  arahi- 
teclure  des  XVIle  et  XVIII'  siecles  (Paris,  1910). 

453 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

went  crusading  in  Spain,  where  he  founded  the  house  from 
which  descended  Queen  Isabella;  Burgundian  Capetians 
also  reigned  in  Portugal.  Cluny  and  Citeaux  were  favored 
by  the  first  line  of  Burgundy's  dukes,  to  which  belonged, 
by  ties  of  blood,  the  two  greatest  abbots  of  their  respective 
Orders,  St.  Hugues  and  St.  Bernard.  In  1361  the  last  duke 
died  childless  and  the  duchy  returned  to  the  French  crown. 

Three  years  later  the  Valois  Capetian  king,  Jean  le  Bon, 
gave  Burgundy  to  his  youngest  and  favorite  son,  Philippe  le 
Hardi,  who  won  his  surname  of  valiant  when  fifteen  years  of 
age  through  his  defense  of  his  father  at  the  battle  of  Poitiers. 
When  Philippe,  by  the  generous  aid  of  his  brother,  King 
Charles  V,  wedded  the  richest  heiress  in  Europe,  the  very 
plain  Marguerite  of  Flanders,  there  resulted  the  political 
union  of  Burgundy  with  the  Netherlands  that  was  of  impor- 
tant influence  on  French  art.  It  led  to  the  formation  at  Dijon 
of  a  French-Flemish  school  of  sculpture.  The  robust  middle 
region  of  France  impressed  its  own  character  on  the  masters 
from  the  Lowlands  who  flocked  to  the  semi-royal  court  of  the 
dukes,  and  equally  it  assimilated  the  artists  who  came  from 
Lyons  and  neighboring  regions.  The  Flemish-Burgundian 
style  controlled  the  first  half  of  the  XV  century.  Its  fusion 
of  national  and  local  art  traditions  with  Flemish  realism 
renewed  the  vigor  of  French  sculpture,  and  a  truly  French 
Renaissance  had  already  set  in  before  the  advent  of  the  Italian 
spirit.  In  Dijon  took  place  the  evolution  that  changed  the 
sculpture  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  that  of  modern  times. 

The  artists  who  had  gathered  around  Charles  V  in  Paris, 
were  scattered  by  that  king's  premature  death  and  the  subse- 
quent disorders  in  the  royal  domain,  and  they  flocked  to  the 
Burgundian  court  of  his  brother.  Among  them  were  Andre 
and  Guy  de  Dammartin,  who  erected  outside  the  gates  of 
Dijon  the  Chartreuse  of  Champmol  (1388-96)  as  a  burial 
place  for  the  Valois  line  of  dukes.  The  work  of  the  Dammartin 
family — with  whom  Flamboyant  Gothic  became  a  heritage 
passing  from  father  to  son — can  be  found  at  Bourges,  Poitiers, 
Tours,  Le  Mans,  and  Nantes. 

454 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

What  parts  of  the  Chartreuse  monastery  now  remain 
constitute  an  asylum.  The  sculptured  portal  of  the  church 
shows  kneeling  images  of  Philippe  le  Hardi  and  his  duchess 
Marguerite,  and  in  the  cloister  is  the  noted  Well  of  the 
Prophets,  conceived,  and  in  part  executed,  by  Claus  Sluter 
in  1395,  and  finished  by  his  nephew,  Claus  de  Werve,  in  1403. 
The  Puits  de  Mo'ise  was  so  called  because  the  statue  of  Moses, 
alone  of  the  six  prophets,  shows  religious  analogy  with  the 
biblical  character  it  stands  for.  The  others  are  realistic 
studies  of  tradesman,  rich  citizen,  or  Jew,  in  eccentric  costumes 
that  probably  were  copied  from  those  in  the  mystery  plays 
of  the  day.  With  these  prophet  images  of  Claus  Sluter, 
modern  sculpture  took  birth. 

The  two  most  regal  tombs  of  the  Middle  Ages,  those  of 
Philippe  le  Hardi  and  his  son  Jean  sans  Peur,  were  originally 
in  the  Chartreuse  church,  but  were  broken  up  by  the  Revo- 
lution. They  were  reset,  for  a  time,  in  St.  Benigne's  church, 
and  now  are  installed  in  the  XV-century  guard  hall  of  the 
ducal  palace,  a  part  of  Dijon's  Art  Museum,  raising  that 
collection  to  first-class  rank.  Near  them  are  placed  the 
elaborately  carved  and  painted  altarpieces  brought  from 
Termonde  by  the  dukes.  The  pomp  and  pageantry  of  the 
knighthood  described  by  Froissart  and  Commines  breathes 
in  the  two  grandiose  tombs  of  Dijon,  and  the  progeny  of 
sumptuous  funereal  monuments  they  inspired.  Cowled 
figures  called  pleureurs  are  set  in  niches  around  each  sarcoph- 
agus. They  seem  like  symbols  of  the  lesser  people's  suffer- 
ings in  the  dire  Hundred  Years'  War,  when  France  became  a 
field  of  carnage.  Foreign  invasion,  the  Great  Schism  of  the 
West,  pest,  massacres,  misrule,  lawlessness — such  was  the 
accumulation  of  miseries  that  only  the  heaven-sent  Jehanne 
la  Pucelle,  from  the  far  borders  of  the  land,  could  right  the 
immeasurable  pitie  there  was  in  the  kingdom  of  France. 

Though  Burgundy  suffered  less  than  the  royal  domain, 
the  lesser  people  had  to  pay  heavily  for  the  prodigal  largess 
of  their  dukes.  At  times  the  lavish  giving  of  Philippe  le 
Hardi  bordered  upon  folly;  while  on  visits  of  state  he  was 

455 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

forced  to  put  his  jewels  in  pawn  to  obtain  sufficient  funds 
for  his  home  journey.  When  he  died,  in  1404,  it  took  six 
weeks  for  his  funeral  cortege  to  journey  from  Brussels  to 
Dijon,  and  those  of  his  household  who  accompanied  the 
body  were  provided  with  Capuchin  capes  of  black  cloth. 
That  is  the  procession  represented  by  the  statuettes  around 
his  sarcophagus,  though,  unfortunately,  the  original  order  of 
their  march  has  been  lost.  Among  the  eighty  pleurants  of 
the  two  ducal  tombs  are  only  eight  restorations. 

Jean  de  Marville,  a  Lorraine  master,  designed  Duke 
Philippe's  monument,  whose  imagery  is  in  greater  part  from 
the  hand  of  Claus  Sluter  and  Claus  de  Werve,  Netherlander 
(1384-1411).  De  Werve  made  most  of  Duke  Jean's  monument, 
a  replica  of  his  father's  tomb;  it  was  finished  by  an  Aragonese 
sculptor,  Juan  de  Heurta,  and  Antoine  le  Moiturier  from 
Avignon.  The  latter  was  nephew  of  Jacques  Morel  of  Lyons, 
trained  in  the  Dijon  studios,  who  made  for  the  daughter  of 
John  the  Fearless,  the  Duchess  of  Bourbon,  a  tomb  in  Sou- 
vigny's  abbatial  near  Moulins,  which  M.  Enlart  has  called 
the  most  masterly  work  in  sculpture  of  the  XV  century. 

Dijon  built  no  XHI-century  cathedral.  What  to-day  is 
its  cathedral  was  originally  the  abbey  church  of  St.  Benigne, 
not  of  architectural  pre-eminence,  but  rich  in  historic  memories. 
Abbot  Hugues  d'Arcy  began  it  in  1280,  in  the  hour  of  hope 
and  energy  that  followed  on  the  Council  of  Lyons,  where 
Greek  and  Latin  churches  fraternally  united.  In  1286  the 
choir  was  dedicated  and  the  relics  of  St.  Benignus  transferred 
from  the  crypt  to  the  new  sanctuary. 

St.  Benigne  of  Dijon  is  a  secondary  church  compared 
with  its  neighbors,  the  cathedrals  of  Bourges  and  Lyons. 
The  profiles  are  emasculated,  the  clearstory  windows  lack 
sufficient  height,  the  wall  surface  above  the  triforium  is 
monotonous,  the  denuded  triforium  of  the  nave  lacks  capitals, 
and  despite  the  warm  brown  color  of  the  stone,  the  general 
aspect  of  the  interior  is  glacial.  The  Gothic  effect  has  been 
marred  further  by  the  numerous  busts  and  statues  brought 
here  from  other  churches  after  the  Revolution. 

456 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

Far  surpassing  in  interest  the  somewhat  pinchbeck  Gothic 
upper  church  of  St.  Benigne  is  its  crypt,  the  oldest  Roman- 
esque monument  in  Burgundy.  It  lies  beyond  the  actual 
apse.  For  eight  hundred  years  it  was  the  foundation  of 
a  rotunda  church  of  the  same  type  as  the  round  church  at 
Cambridge,  England,  the  prototypes  for  both  being  certain 
Roman  mausoleums.  Originally  the  Dijon  crypt  opened 
westward  on  a  crypt  now  lost — the  basement  for  a  Latin  cross 
church — and  where  that  juncture  occurred  are  vestiges  of 
buildings  that  antedate  the  actual  crypt.  The  round  church 
beyond  the  apse  of  St.  Benigne's  Gothic  abbatial  was  de- 
stroyed during  the  Revolution,  and  its  crypt  filled  in  and 
forgotten.  In  1858,  while  digging  foundations  for  a  new 
sacristy  beyond  the  choir,  the  circular  chamber  was  un- 
earthed, in  which  was  found  a  tombstone,  apparently  the 
ancient  one  of  St.  Benignus.  Once  again  the  venerable 
subterranean  shrine  became  a  pilgrimage  for  Burgundy. 

St.  Benigne's  crypt  has  double  circular  aisles.  Its  sculpture 
is  rude,  even  amorphous,  and  testifies  to  the  extinction  of  the 
art  during  the  Barbarians'  immigrations.  These  rough 
designs  on  the  capitals  of  St.  Benigne  are,  as  it  were,  the  first 
stutterings  of  the  national  paeans  in  praise  of  God  and  country 
that  are  the  imaged  portals  of  Gothic  cathedrals. 

Abbot  William  of  Volpiano,  who  made  St.  Benigne's  Roman- 
esque rotunda  and  its  adjacent  basilica,  came  from  Cluny  to 
reform  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Dijon  monastery  and  rebuild 
its  church.  Born  on  an  island  in  the  lake  of  Orta,  he  had 
crossed  the  Alps  with  Abbot  Majolus  of  Cluny.  For  over 
thirty  years  he  exercised  his  double  function  of  administra- 
tive reformer  and  architect  in  Burgundy  1  and  in  Normandy, 

1  Tournus  abbey  (Saone-et-Loire),  when  founded,  was  affiliated  with  the  Columban 
tradition.  From  946  to  980  the  church  was  rebuilt,  and  again  from  1008  to  1028, 
under  the  auspices  of  William  of  Volpiano,  abbot  of  St.  Benigne.  On  its  outer  walls 
are  Lombard  mural  arcaded  bands.  The  massive  forechurch,  or  narthex  of  three 
bays,  has  two  stories  of  different  dates,  the  lower  one  about  950,  and  the  upper  about 
980.  The  vault  of  the  latter — a  cradle  carried  on  brackets — is  the  earliest  example 
extant  in  France  of  a  wide-span  masonry  roof  at  such  a  height.  Tournus  exemplified 
the  militant  spirit  of  Burgundy's  Romanesque  school  by  experimenting  with  every 
kind  of  vault,  cradle,  half  cradle,  transverse  cradle,  and  groin.  The  pier  arcades 

457 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

introducing  certain  Lombard  features  such  as  alternating 
piers,  arched  corbel  courses,  and  superimposed  arcades  for 
decorative  effect,  this  latter  being  a  Ravennate  motive  adopted 
by  Lombardy.  He  began  his  two  connecting  churches  at 
Dijon  in  1001,  and  completed  them  in  1018,  when  there  was 
a  solemn  dedication  at  which  St.  William  preached  most 
movingly.  St.  Benigne  is,  therefore,  the  first-recorded  mon- 
ument built  after  the  terrors  of  the  year  1000,  described  by 
Raoul  Glaber,  who  lived  in  this  monastery. 

William  of  Volpiano  founded  schools,  taught  the  plain 
chant  to  children,  revised  Gregorian  music,  and  established 
centers  for  craftsmen.  In  manner  he  was  authoritative,  but 
one  on  intimate  terms  with  him  wrote:  "No  one  can  tell  to 
what  degree  in  him  rose  mercy  and  compassion.  In  famine 
time,  he  sold  the  gold  plate  of  the  church  to  feed  the  people." 
To  this  day  a  gateway  of  Dijon  bears  his  name,  the  Porte 
Guillaume. 

A  century  later  Abbot  Jarenton  of  St.  Benigne  invited 
monks  from  Cluny  to  reanimate  the  spiritual  life  of  his 
monastery.  Paschal  II  blessed  the  Dijon  abbatial,  repaired 
after  the  fall  of  a  tower  in  1096.  When  in  1107  Aleth  de 
Montbard,  mother  of  St.  Bernard,  died  in  her  castle  two 
miles  from  Dijon,  Abbot  Jarenton  hastened  out  to  Fontaine- 
les-Dijon  to  claim  the  body  of  the  saintly  woman  for  his 
hallowed  crypt  of  St.  Benigne,  and  an  enthusiastic  procession 
carried  the  Blessed  Aleth  to  the  city.  St.  Bernard  was  an 
unknown  lad  at  the  time. 

In  1131,  Pope  Eugene  III  blessed  the  Dijon  abbatial  subse- 
quent to  still  other  restorations.  Finally,  in  1271,  the  eastern- 


of  the  main  church  are  of  William  of  Volpiano's  time.  The  transept  and  choir  are 
early  XII  century,  and  in  that  same  period  the  reconstructed  nave  was  covered  by 
an  experiment  in  stone  roofing  which  never  made  a  school;  it  had  been  used  in  Persia 
in  the  VI  century.  A  series  of  half  barrels  borne  on  lintels  were  placed  side  by  side 
across  the  wide  nave,  from  north  to  south,  instead  of  one  long  tunnel  vault  from 
east  to  west.  The  system  allowed  for  the  better  lighting  of  the  upper  church,  and 
as  each  barrel  vault  was  buttressed  by  the  one  next  it,  only  at  the  east  and  west  ends 
of  the  edifice  was  abutment  required.  Congres  Archeologique,  1899,  pp.  223,  236; 
and  1909;  Clement  Heaton,  in  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects, 
3d  series,  1909. 

458 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

most  church  of  William  of  Volpiano  was  wiped  out  by  fire 
(though  his  rotunda  church  was  to  stand  till  1792),  and  the 
present  St.  Benigne  was  begun  immediately  on  the  site  of 
the  destroyed  Latin  cross  basilica. 

If  the  ex-abbatial  which  is  now  Dijon's  cathedral  is  secondary 
in  size  and  character,  the  parish  church  of  Notre  Dame  is  a 
veritable  gem  of  Gothic  architecture,  faultless  in  construction 
and  of  singular  purity  and  unity.  Its  influence  on  the  Gothic 
art  of  the  province  was  widespread.  After  a  fire  in  1137, 
which  consumed  half  the  city,  a  Romanesque  Notre  Dame 
had  risen.  It  was  cited,  in  1178,  as  the  first  of  the  town,  its 
bells  sounding  the  opening  and  the  shutting  of  the  city  gates 
and  alarms  for  fire. 

The  present  church  of  Notre  Dame  was  begun  about  1220; 
a  record  referred  to  it  as  in  use  in  1245.  The  architect  had  to 
contend  with  difficulties.  His  funds  were  so  small  that  a 
minimum  of  building  material  was  necessary.  Three  sides 
of  his  edifice  were  bounded  by  public  thoroughfares;  hence 
it  was  impossible  to  spread  out  the  piles  required  by  flying 
buttresses;  at  the  same  time  the  limited  plot  of  ground  made 
it  imperative  not  to  encumber  the  small  interior  by  clumsy 
piers.  How  to  construct  a  secure  edifice  without  big  piers, 
thick  walls,  or  flying  buttresses  was  the  problem. 

The  builder  showed  his  genius  when  he  used  the  inclosure 
wall  to  counterbut  the  vault  thrust  and  yet  dared  open  these 
walls  by  generous  Gothic  windows.  For  ten  feet  above  the 
ground  the  walls  are  heavy;  then  they  become  a  mere  shell, 
skillfully  doubled  by  the  use  of  colonnettes  of  durable  stone, 
each  slender  shaft  being  so  weighted  that  it  stands  with  the 
security  of  iron. 

The  interior  of  Notre  Dame  appears  charmingly  spacious 
and  airy.  The  XVII  century  added  circular  windows  to  the 
triforium  of  the  apse,  in  character  with  the  church,  however. 
The  exterior  of  the  apse  is  plain  and  neat  and,  with  the  central 
lantern  tower,  composes  an  architectural  group  of  simple 
elegance.  The  eastern  buttresses  fulfill  a  triple  function  as 
piers,  as  walls,  and  as  counterbutting  members.  Technical 

459 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

subtlety  is  to  be  found  throughout  Notre  Dame.  The  vaults 
of  the  side  aisles  were  constructed  to  brace  the  principal  span. 
The  piers  are  uniform  monoliths,  but  a  sexpartite  vault  was 
built,  though  for  a  generation  that  system  had  been  discarded 
in  the  north.  The  coping  stones  over  the  capitals  of  each  alter- 
nate pier  were  enlarged  to  catch  there  the  heavier  weight. 

There  are  so  many  points  of  resemblance  between  Notre 
Dame  of  Dijon  and  the  choir  of  Auxerre  Cathedral,  begun 
in  1215,  that  M.  Charles  Poree  has  thought  that  the  same 
architect  designed  both.  Their  profiles  are  alike,  their  capitals 
have  similar  salient  crockets,  and  their  colonnettes  were  cut 
from  the  quarry  according  to  the  rock's  horizontal  strata, 
and  not  by  the  usual  method  of  vertical  cutting. 

In  boldness  of  technique  the  small  Dijon  church  is  a  master- 
piece to  which  many  an  eloquent  page  has  been  devoted.1 
Beneath  an  apparent  simplicity  is  unsurpassed  scientific 
construction.  The  great  engineer  Vauban  praised  it,  as  did 
Soufflot,  the  XVIII-century  architect  of  the  Pantheon  at 
Paris.  The  balanced  equilibrium  of  the  national  art  can  be 
carried  no  farther,  and  only  the  use  of  hard  Tonnerre  stone 
permitted  this  successful  audacity.  Were  a  modern  student 
to  present  such  a  plan  to  any  commission,  said  M.  Lassus,  he 
would  be  dismissed  as  mad. 

While  the  nave  was  building  a  narthex  was  added  before 
the  western  entrance,  consisting  of  a  fifty -foot-deep  porch. 
Notre  Dame's  west  fagade  rides  astride  two  rows  of  pillars  set 
close  together  before  the  narthex,  again  a  case  of  strength  being 
attained  by  the  able  use  of  double  walls.  The  f  agade's  superim- 
posed arcades,  used  merely  as  decoration,  as  at  Pisa,  prevented 
the  employment  of  strong  buttress  ridges,  and  give  to  the  west- 
ern front  of  the  church  a  most  un-Gothic  aspect.  It  cannot  be 

1  Viollet-le-Duc,  Dictionnaire  de  V Architecture,  vol.  4,  pp.  131-147;  Huysmans, 
L'Oblat,  chap.  5,  on  Notre  Dame  of  Dijon.  In  his  story,  which  is  the  continuation 
of  En  Route  and  La  Cathedrale,  Huysmans  described  the  closing  of  the  Burgundian 
monastery  of  Val  des  Saints  near  Dijon.  His  theory  is  that  by  such  acts  the  balance 
of  good  and  evil  in  the  world  is  destroyed,  since  no  longer  is  propitiatory  self-sacrifice 
and  prayer  offered  to  heaven  for  the  sins  being  committed  on  earth :  "  Ilfaut  s'attendre 
a  ce  que  le  Bon  Dieu  tombe  sur  nous  .  .  .  pour  remettre  les  chases  en  place,  et  vous  savez 
sommenl  il  procede,  dans  ces  cos  la,  il  vous  accable  d'infirmites  et  d'epreuves." 

460 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

said  that  the  lamp  of  truth  is  upheld,  since  the  frontispiece 
makes  no  pretense  to  express  the  three-aisled  interior,  but 
rises  above  the  roof  like  an  abstract  screen.  The  gargoyles 
that  alternate  with  some  ancient  superbly  cut  panels  of  foliage 
across  the  west  front,  date  only  from  1881,  and,  as  usual  with 
restorations,  the  grotesque  element  has  been  overemphasized. 
A  manuscript  of  the  XIII  century  relates  that  the  original 
gargoyles  were  removed  when  a  bridegroom  (a  money-lender) 
about  to  enter  the  church  was  killed  by  the  fall  of  a  protruding 
image  that  represented  a  man  gripping  a  money  bag. 

The  imagery  of  Notre  Dame's  portal  has  been  entirely 
obliterated.  When  the  Revolution  voted  to  destroy  "all 
signs  of  fanaticism,"  an  apothecary  of  Dijon  mounted  a 
ladder  each  morning  and  leveled  with  his  hammer  all  the 
stonecutters'  work.  The  present  image  at  the  trumeau  is  a 
fragment  saved  from  the  late-Gothic  Chartreuse  of  the  Valois 
dukes.  To  Notre  Dame  Philippe  le  Hardi  gave  the  Jacque- 
mart l  clock,  one  of  his  spoils  from  the  sacking  of  Courtrai 
in  1382,  whereat  he  had  been  assisted  by  the  Dijon  citizens 
par  loyaute  et  parfait  amour. 

SAINT  BERNARD,  AND  CISTERCIAN  INFLUENCE  IN 
GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE2 

What  is  genius?     It  is  a  mind  in  which  imagination,  intelligence,  and 
feeling  exist  in  an  elevated  proportion  and  in  an  exact  equation.     It  is  a 

1  A  clockmaker  named  Jacquemart  made  such  works,  hence  their  name.     Originally 
only  one  figure  struck  the  hours  on  the  big  bell.     Then  a  wife,  Jacqueleine,  was  given 
to  the  bell-knocker,  and  after  a  local  wit  had  rallied  the  couple  on  their  childless 
state,  first  one  child,  Jacquelinet,  was  added,  and  then  another,  Jacquelinette,  and  the 
industrious  children  now  ring  the  quarter  hours  on  the  little  bells. 

2  Works  of  St.  Bernard,  edited  by  Mabillon  (Paris,  1669-90),  tr.  by  Eales  and  Hodges 
(London,  1889),  4  vols.;   E.  Vacandard,  Vie  de  Saint  Bernard  (Paris,  Lecoffre,  1895), 
2  vols.;   other  studies  of  the  saint,  by  Eales  (London,  1890)  and  II.  P.  Ilatisbonne; 
De  Dion,  fitude  sur  les  eglises  de  I'ordre  de  Citeaux;  Arbois  de  Jubainville,  Etude  sur 
Vetat  interieur  des  abbayes  cisterciennes  et  principalement  de  Clairvaux  au  XII    siecle 
(Paris,  1858) ;   Lucien  Begule,  L'abbaye  de  Fontenay  et  V architecture  cistcrciennc  (Lyon, 
1912);  Camille  Enlart,  L' architecture  gothique  en  Italic  (Paris,  1893) ;  ibid.,  En  Espagne 
et  en  Portugal  (Paris,  1894);    ibid.,  "Villard  de  Honnecourt  et  lex  Cisterciens,"  in 
Biblio.  de  VEcole  des  chartes,  1895;    Bulletin  Monumental,  1904,  Andre  Philippe,  on 
Cistercian  churches;    John  Bilson,  The  Architecture  of  the  Cistercians;    Their  Earliest 
Churches  in  England  (London,  1909);    also  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of 
British  Architects,  1909;  Marcel  Aubert,  on  Cistercian  churches  in  Germany. 

461 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

mind  which  has  a  penetrating  view  of  ideas,  which  incarnates  them  power- 
fully in  marble,  in  brass,  in  language,  and  in  that  dust  wlu'ch  we  call  writing, 
which  also  communicates  to  ideas  an  impulse  from  the  heart  to  precipitate 
them,  living,  into  the  hearts  of  others.  Genius  is,  with  conscience,  the 
most  beautiful  endowment  of  humanity.  .  .  .  Genius  is  the  greatest  power 
created  by  God  for  grasping  truth.  It  is  a  sudden  and  vast  intuition  of 
the  connections  which  bind  beings  together.  ...  It  is  the  faculty  of 
rendering  ideas  visible  to  those  who  would  not  have  discovered  them  by 
themselves,  of  incarnating  them  in  speaking  images,  of  casting  them  into 
the  soul,  enlightening  it,  subjecting  it,  thrilling  it. — LACORDAIRE  (1802-61; 
born  in  Burgundy). 

Although  modern  Dijon  may  momentarily  blot  out  much 
in  its  past  history  by  renaming  the  square  before  Notre  Dame 
Place  Ernest  Renan,  auteur  de  "La  vie  de  Jesus"  (which  work 
depicts  the  Saviour  as  an  unconscious  charlatan),  and  christen- 
ing the  square  before  the  cathedral  Place  Blanqui,  grand 
Revolutionnaire  (Blanqui  being  the  Communist  who  founded 
the  journal  Ni  Dieu  ni  Maitre),  although  it  may  mark  one 
street  sign  Rue  Babeuf,  ecrivain  politique,  democrate  ires  ardente 
(the  socialist,  Babeuf,  was  executed  under  the  Directory),  and 
another  with  an  equal  pedantry  that  is  most  un-French, 
Rue  Diderot,  auteur  principale  de  V Encyclopedic  (the  encyclo- 
pedia which  railed  at  the  Christian  religion),  none  the  less 
will  the  greatest  honor  of  the  ancient  capital  of  Burgundy  be 
the  monk  in  whom  western  monasticism  culminated,  Bernard 
of  Clairvaux,  who  led  Dante  to  the  Supreme  Vision  in  Paradise, 
"who  spoke  to  kings  as  a  prophet,  to  the  people  as  their 
leader,  and  transported  Christendom  by  his  eloquence,"  the 
greatest  of  Cistercians,  the  greatest  of  Burgundians,  and  the 
last  great  Doctor  of  the  Church. 

As  the  XI  century  drew  to  a  close,  certain  pious  Bene- 
dictines, who  regretted  the  laxity  of  rule  in  their  own  convent, 
retired  to  the  marshy  woods  near  Beaune,  to  Citeaux,  some 
twelve  miles  south  of  Dijon.  There  was  started  a  new  Order 
which  languished  during  fifteen  years,  fever  decimating  the 
postulants,  till  the  third  abbot,  St.  Stephen  Harding,  stormed 
heaven  with  petitions  to  spare  his  dwindling  flock.  And 
efficacious  prayers  they  appeared  to  be,  for  one  spring  day  in 
1113  there  came  to  the  abbey  gates  (Citeaux'  name  signifies 

462 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

Sistite  hie,  Halt  here!)  a  group  of  thirty  young  nobles,  whose 
conversion  was  to  set  all  Burgundy  talking. 

Their  leader  was  Bernard  of  Fontaine-les-Dijon,1  then  in 
his  twenty-fourth  year.  When  he  experienced  the  call 
to  a  monastic  life,  he  drew  after  him  brothers,  cousins,  uncle, 
and  friends.  His  mother,  the  Blessed  Aleth,  had  impressed 
ineffaceably  on  his  soul  her  own  ardent  love  of  God.  As  Peter 
the  Venerable  said  in  that  same  generation:  "With  us  the 
virgin,  the  wife,  the  mother,  expand  the  soul  of  the  country 
by  the  breath  of  their  piety." 

When  the  small  band  of  enthusiasts  were  quitting  the 
chateau  of  Bernard's  father,  the  elder  brother  and  heir,  Guy, 
told  Nivard,  the  youngest  of  the  six  sons  of  Aleth,  that  now 
he  alone  remained  to  inherit  the  estate.  "Ah,"  cried  the 
lad,  "y°u  would  leave  me  the  earthly  reward  while  you  gain 
the  eternal?  The  exchange  is  not  fair."  And  in  time  he, 
too,  sought  his  brothers  in  the  cloister  as  did  his  father,  who 
died  in  a  Cistercian  robe. 

All  the  nations  of  Europe  were  meeting  then  in  the  inter- 
nationalism of  monastic  institutions.  St.  Stephen  Harding,  who 
was  practically  the  founder  of  the  Cistercian  Order,  who 
drew  up  its  charter  and  began  its  centralized  system  of  chapters- 
general,  was  an  Englishman,  educated  in  Sherborne  abbey 
in  Dorset,  and  later  at  Paris  University.  Feeling  the  desire 
to  visit  Rome  in  pilgrimage,  he  went  there  afoot,  reciting 
each  day,  as  he  walked,  the  entire  Psaltery.  It  is  said  that 
benignant  joy  shone  in  his  face.  To-day  a  Bible  he  translated 
is  treasured  in  Dijon;  he  used  to  consult  the  learned  rabbis 
of  his  acquaintance  whenever  in  doubt  concerning  the  Hebraic 
text.  It  was  an  hour  of  internationalism.  A  frequenter  of 
St.  Bernard's  own  Clairvaux  was  St.  Malachy  O'Morgair, 
archbishop  of  Armagh,  who  died  in  Bernard's  arms  in  1147. 
The  Burgundian  saint  loved  Malachy  for  his  gentleness,  his 
holiness,  his  delicacy  of  soul,  and  his  noble  majestic  presence, 

1  The  castle  of  Fontaine-les-Dijon  was  held  by  Bernard's  lineage  till  the  XV  century. 
To-day  the  site  is  covered  by  an  unfinished  commemorative  church.  The  village 
church  is  of  the  XVI  century. 

30  463 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

and  for  him  trained  young  Irish  monks  to  serve  in  the  reform 
needed  then  in  the  Celtic  church,  thus  paying  back  to  Ireland 
the  debt  incurred  by  the  mission  of  Columbanus. 

With  such  souls  as  Bernard  and  his  kinsmen,  the  new 
Order  governed  by  Abbot  Stephen  Harding  took  on  fresh 
vigor.  Pontigny  was  founded  a  year  later,  and  in  1115 
Bernard  and  twelve  companions  were  sent  to  establish  Clair- 
vaux 1  in  a  fprmer  robber  haunt  given  by  the  Count  of  Cham- 
pagne, a  valley  of  wormwood  which  they  turned  into  a  valley 
of  light.  By  the  middle  of  the  XIII  century  there  were  five 
hundred  Cistercian  houses  in  Europe.  In  England,  from 
1125  to  1200,  rose  a  hundred  monasteries  of  the  white  monks, 
Fountains,  Furness,  Tintern,  Kirkstall,  "God's  castles," 
wrote  a  contemporary,  "where  the  servants  of  the  true 
anointed  King  do  keep  watch,  and  the  young  soldiers  are 
exercised  in  warfare  against  spiritual  evil."  Many  a  Cistercian 
house  was  in  Scotland  and  Ireland — Melrose,  Mellifont, 
Boyle;  in  Germany  and  the  north — Maulbronn,  Arnsberg, 
Warnhem,  and  Soro;  in  Spain — Poblet  and  Santa -Creus; 
in  Portugal — Alcobaga.  St.  Bernard  himself  founded  Chia- 
ravalle  near  Milan,  and  on  the  spot  of  the  Roman  Campagna 
where  St.  Paul  was  beheaded  flourished  the  Cistercian  house 
of  Tre  Fontane,  whose  first  abbot,  trained  under  Bernard  at 
Clairvaux,  mounted  Peter's  Chair  as  Eugene  III. 

Wherever  the  Cistercians  went  they  promulgated  the  new 
Gothic  building  lore  of  France.  Their  churches  with  square 
east  end,  square  chapels  opening  on  transept  arms,  and 
neither  tower,  triforium  nor  clearstory,  were  built  exactly 
alike  whether  it  was  in  the  far  north  as  at  Alvastra  in  Sweden, 
or  in  the  far  south  as  at  Girgenti  in  Sicily.  Burgundy's 
abbatial  at  Fontenay  is  the  type  at  its  purest. 

M.  Canaille  Enlart  was  first  to  draw  attention  to  the  active 
role  played  by  Cistercian  monks  in  the  dissemination  of 


1  As  at  Citeaux,  scarcely  an  ancient  vestige  remains  at  Clairvaux.  The  XH-century 
monastic  storehouse  now  serves  as  a  house  of  detention.  All  trace  of  St.  Bernard's 
tomb  has  been  lost.  The  Revolution  finished  what  the  Huguenot  wars  and  the 
absentee  commendatory  abbots  began. 

464 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

Gothic  architecture  in  Europe.1  All  Cistercian  churches  were 
dedicated  to  the  Mother  of  God,  and  the  use  of  the  gracious 
term  Notre  Dame  spread  from  their  abbatials  to  the  cathedrals. 
Dante  opens  the  final  canto  of  the  Paradiso  by  a  eulogy  of 
the  Queen  of  Heaven,  put  into  the  mouth  of  St.  Bernard,  who 
never  flagged  in  her  praise,  culling  from  Scripture  every 
mystic  and  lovely  name  for  her.  lo  sono  il  suo  fedel  Bernardo, 
the  Burgundian  proudly  boasts  in  Paradise.  Though  Bernard's 
devotion  to  his  Dame  souveraine  was  poles  apart  from  Puritan- 


1 M.  Enlart  calls  Fossanuova,  on  the  Appian  Way  between  Rome  and  Naples,  the 
first  Gothic  church  in  Italy,  begun  in  1187  by  Burgundian  Cistercians.  Mr.  Porter 
thinks  that  the  infiltration  had  begun  thirty  years  earlier  through  various  channels. 
In  1208  Innocent  III  dedicated  Fossanuova;  in  1274  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  died  there, 
en  route  to  the  Council  at  Lyons.  The  same  plain  Burgundian  plan  was  followed 
at  Casamari  (1217),  and  a  daughter  house  of  the  latter  was  S.  Galgano  (1218),  from 
which  went  monks  who  are  cited  as  the  masters-of-works  of  Siena  Cathedral,  the 
best  Gothic  edifice  of  the  peninsula.  Monks  from  French  Clairvaux  built  the  three 
Chiaravalle  churches  of  Italy,  and  monks  from  Pontigny  raised  S.  Martino  near 
Viterbo.  Later,  Italy  felt  the  influence  of  different  French  schools;  thus  the  Naples 
churches  are  Gothic  of  Provence  because  southern  French  architects  accompanied 
Charles  d'Anjou,  count  of  Provence,  when  he  became  king  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  At 
Assisi  the  church  of  S.  Francesco  shows  the  Gothic  traits  of  Burgundy,  Provence, 
and  Champagne.  The  Cistercians  introduced  the  torus  profile  of  diagonals,  but 
they  long  clung  to  round-headed  windows.  The  Provence  masters  introduced  pointed 
arched  windows.  In  Spain,  Citeaux  found  a  rival  in  the  monks  of  Cluny  for  the 
dissemination  of  the  new  art.  In  the  XII  century  a  large  number  of  Spanish  bishop- 
rics were  filled  by  Cluny  monks.  Sometimes  they  built  according  to  their  own  native 
architecture,  as  in  Lugo  Cathedral,  San  Vincente  at  Avila,  and  churches  in  Seville, 
which  are  Burgundian  Romanesque.  Sigiienza  Cathedral  is  Burgundian  both  in  its 
Romanesque  and  Gothic  parts.  Zamora  Cathedral,  consecrated  1174,  and  the  old 
cathedral  of  Salamanca,  show  traits  of  Aquitaine;  both  sees  were  occupied  by  Bishop 
Jerome,  who  came  from  Perigieux.  The  Cistercians  of  Spain  did  not  confine  them- 
selves, as  in  Italy,  to  typically  Burgundian  Gothic  churches.  Poblet  and  Santa- 
Creus  (1157)  derive  from  the  early  Gothic  of  Midi  France,  as  well  as  from  Burgundy. 
Las  Huelgas,  the  Cistercian  house  for  nuns  near  Burgos,  finished  about  1180,  shows 
slight  Burgundian  and  much  Plantagenet  Gothic  influence.  The  foundress  was  the 
daughter  of  Henry  II  and  Alienor  of  Aquitaine.  In  Spain,  as  in  Italy,  the  later 
Gothic  monuments  conformed  to  the  standards  of  northern  French  Gothic.  Portugal 
was  more  exclusively  a  Cistercian  field  of  art.  In  1148,  Alcobaga  monastery  was 
founded  by  the  son  of  a  Burgundian  prince,  progenitor  of  Portugal's  royal  line.  While 
it  shows  Angevin  Gothic  traits,  its  plan  is  the  sober  Cistercian  Burgundian  type. 
In  the  military  Orders  of  Spain  and  Portugal  the  Cistercian  Rule  was  used.  The  king 
of  Sweden,  in  1143,  obtained  Cistercian  missionaries  from  Clairvaux;  in  Denmark 
the  abbey  church  of  Soro  is  Burgundian  Gothic.  Camille  Enlart,  Les  origines  de 
V architecture  gothique  en  Espagne  et  en  Portugal  (Paris,  1894);  ibid.,  L' architecture 
gothique  en  Italic  (Paris,  1893) ;  ibid.,  Notes  archeologiques  sur  les  abbayes  cisterciennes 
de  Scandinavie  (Paris,  1894) ;  ibid.,  "  Villard  de  Honnecourt  et  les  Cisterciens,"  in  Biblio. 
de  I' Scale  des  chartes,  1895;  ibid.,  L'art  gothique  ...  en  Chypre  (Paris,  1899),  2  vols. 

465 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

ism,  his  rules  for  ecclesiastic  plainness  were  as  rigid  as  those 
of  the  Puritans.  His  severe  ideas  concerning  art  restrained 
the  earlier  Cistercian  churches,  though  his  apostolate  quick- 
ened the  spiritual  forces  that  soon  were  to  rear  the  cathedrals. 

It  has  been  said  that  to  relate  St.  Bernard's  life  is  to  resume 
the  history  of  the  XII  century  during  half  its  course.  He 
ended  the  schism  of  an  anti-pope;  he  went  up  and  down 
Europe  preaching  unity  and  peace  and  reconciling  enemies; 
he  journeyed  into  Languedoc  to  combat,  by  word,  the  Car- 
tharist  heresy;  fearlessly  he  rebuked  scandal  in  high  places. 
He  drew  up  the  Rule  for  the  Military  Order  of  Templars. 
His  Book  of  Considerations,  written  for  Eugene  III,  became 
a  manual  of  behavior  for  the  papacy.  His  treatise  on  Grace 
and  Free  Will  defined  so  perfectly  the  Church  doctrine  of 
Justification  that  almost  textually  it  was  repeated  by  the 
Council  of  Trent.  No  man  ever  received  more  overwhelming 
ovations  than  Bernard;  at  Toulouse  they  crowded  to  kiss 
his  hand  till  his  frail  arms  were  swollen  past  all  movement; 
at  Albi  a  jeering  crowd  was  subjugated  by  one  sermon;  in 
northern  Italy,  such  was  the  reverence  for  the  maker  of  peace 
between  the  rival  cities,  that  Genoa  chose  him  as  a  patron, 
and  Milan  placed  herself  under  his  protection.  As  he  crossed 
the  Alps,  word  passed  among  the  mountaineers,  and  his  way 
became  a  triumphal  procession.  He  was  worn  to  a  shadow 
in  the  service  of  Christendom  when  Eugene  III  commissioned 
him  to  preach  the  Second  Crusade,  and  when  the  expedition 
proved  a  lamentable  failure,  Heaven  sent  this  strong  man, 
who  had  passed  unscathed  through  the  intoxication  of  human 
glory,  the  severer  test  of  human  disgrace. 

The  figure  of  the  greatest  proselytizer  since  St.  Paul  is  no 
vague  one  in  history.  Bernard  was  tall  and  slender,  with 
chiseled  features  like  polished  ivory;  his  hair  was  red-blond; 
in  his  blue  eyes  was  a  flame  of  celestial  purity.  Many  have 
testified  to  the  serenity  of  his  visage,  the  modesty  of  his 
attitude,  and  the  almost  superhuman  influence  he  exerted  on 
those  who  saw  him.  They  say  that  the  very  sight  of  him 
preached.  Apart  from  the  numerous  descriptions  of  him 

466 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

by  his  contemporaries,  there  are  over  four  hundred  of  his 
own  letters  extant,  letters  straightforward,  abrupt,  ironic  here 
and  there,  fearless,  and  warm-hearted.  He  swayed  emperors 
and  kings,  yet  retained  always  his  personal  humility.  Re- 
luctantly he  tore  himself  from  the  peace  of  Clairvaux  to  direct 
the  affairs  of  Europe,  and  eagerly  he  returned  to  the  life  of 
prayer  and  brotherly  love.  A  preacher,  he  said,  must  be  a  man 
of  prayer  if  he  would  convert  men.  He  must  be  a  reservoir 
kept  full  and  overflowing,  not  merely  a  canal  that  can  run  dry. 

Some  to  whom  the  spiritual  life  is  a  dead  letter  have  called 
the  abbot  of  Clairvaux  unsympathetic  and  superhuman. 
Others,  while  admiring  him,  regret  his  brusqueness  and 
hardy  invectives.  It  was  not  a  day  when  controversialists 
handled  their  adversaries  with  gloves;  witness  Abelard's 
onslaughts  on  those  who  disagreed  with  him  on  the  most 
abstract  theological  points.  No  doubt,  in  some  cases,  Bernard's 
zeal  exceeded  propriety;  perhaps  his  father  had  touched 
exactly  on  the  defect  of  his  qualities  when  he  advised  him  to 
keep  measure  in  all  things.  But  who  that  appreciates  this 
great  man  would  tone  down  his  splendid  vehemence?  His 
love  for  morality  and  pure  doctrine  was  a  glorious  passion. 
He  struck  at  the  sin,  not  the  sinner.  Such  censures  are  the 
anger  of  love. 

And  remark  how  the  men  whom  Bernard  rebuked  accepted 
the  humiliation  of  his  public  censures.  When  he  asked  the 
archbishop  of  Sens — the  feudal  lord,  Henri  le  Sanglier,  who 
began  that  cathedral — if  he  thought  justice  had  disappeared 
from  the  rest  of  the  world  as  it  had  from  his  own  heart,  the 
proud  churchman  set  about  curbing  his  autocratic  tendencies, 
and  died  an  honored  pastor.  No  disputants  ever  more 
soundly  berated  each  other  than  Abelard  and  Bernard,  yet 
their  reconciliation,  brought  about  by  kindly,  large-minded 
Peter  of  Cluny,  was  frank  and  complete.  And  we  have  seen 
how  Abbot  Suger  changed  his  worldly  ways  of  life,  how  he 
reformed  his  monastery,  and  how  the  revenues  hitherto  wasted 
on  a  retinue  of  sixty  horsemen  were  devoted  to  building  the 
first  Gothic  monument  in  France. 

467 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

St.  Bernard  was,  without  question,  the  most  eloquent  preacher 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  but  the  conversions  he  wrought  were 
due  as  much  to  the  purity,  charity,  and  humility  of  his  own 
life  as  to  his  unparalleled  powers  of  persuasion.  The  ideal 
of  that  harsh  age,  despite  its  shortcomings,  was  saintliness, 
and  when  men  found  it  incarnate  in  this  Burgundian,  they 
accepted  him  as  their  leader.  Bernard  held  that  it  was  false 
principles  that  led  to  social  corruption,  and  to  punish  the  evil 
act  while  the  mental  crime  which  led  to  it  went  unchastened, 
was  illogical.  So  whenever  the  purity  of  Christian  doctrine 
was  threatened,  this  champion  of  the  Cross  emerged  from  his 
seclusion  full  armed  for  its  defense.  His  vigilance  was  not 
bigotry.  When  a  fanatical  German  monk  preached  a  perse- 
cution of  the  Jews,  the  abbot  of  Clairvaux  came  to  their 
defense:  "The  Just,"  an  old  rabbi  called  him,  "without 
whom  not  one  among  our  people  had  saved  his  life.  Honor 
to  him  who  came  to  our  succor  in  our  hour  of  mortal  anguish." 

In  all  Bernard's  writings  is  not  one  word  of  disloyalty  to 
what  he  thought  was  right,  not  a  trace  of  the  hypocrite.  If  he 
thundered  against  ambition,  cupidity,  and  that  hypocrisy 
which  moves  about  in  dim  corners,  perambulante  in  tenebris, 
he  knew  that  scandals  there  have  been  and  will  ever  be,  since 
even  among  the  chosen  twelve  Judas  betrayed,  Peter  denied, 
and  Thomas  doubted.  He  might  flagellate  ecclesiastic  dis- 
orders as  openly  as  Luther  himself,  but  the  pope  called  him  the 
pillar  of  the  Church  and  its  guide.  Towering  above  his  fellow 
men  morally,  he  took  up  his  Master's  cord  whips  to  drive  the 
traffickers  from  the  temple,  but  he  left  an  altar  in  the  sanctuary 
and  a  high  priest  at  the  altar,  and  his  own  life  was  blameless. 

The  choicest  spirits  of  the  age  sought  Bernard's  friendship. 
He  was  loved  by  St.  Norbert,  whose  new  Order  of  Premontre 
spread  over  Europe  with  the  same  rapidity  as  that  of  Citeaux. 
He  had  links  with  the  mystics  in  St.  Victor's  abbey  at  Paris; 
Hugues  de  St.  Victor  submitted  cases  of  conscience  to  him; 
Richard  de  St.  Victor  asked  of  him  criticism  on  his  book  on 
the  Trinity;  and  the  Latin  hymns  of  Adam  de  St.  Victor 
breathe  the  selfsame  spirit  as  that  of  the  Burgundian  mystic. 

468 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

Geoffrey  de  Leves,  who  built  the  tower  at  Chartres,  traveled 
with  him  in  Italy  and  Languedoc.  Pierre  de  Celle,  who  built 
the  choir  of  St.  Remi,  at  Rheims,  wrote  of  Bernard:  "His  life, 
his  fame,  his  works,  his  writings,  his  miracles,  his  faith,  his 
hope,  his  charity,  his  chastity,  his  abstinence,  his  words,  his 
visage,  his  gestures,  the  attitude  of  his  body,  all,  in  a  word, 
rendered  homage  to  his  sanctity.  He  was  the  well-beloved 
disciple  of  the  Lord,  in  whose  honor  he  built,  not  only  one 
basilica,  but  all  the  basilicas  of  the  Order  of  Citeaux.  If, 
then,  thou  wouldst  touch  the  pupil  of  Our  Lady's  eye,  write 
against  Bernard."  And  the  bishop  of  Paris,  who  worked  on 
the  fagade  of  Notre  Dame,  the  schoolman,  Guillaume 
d'Auvergne,  testified  that  Bernard  "lived  in  the  highest  per- 
fection," that  his  "wisdom  proceeded  not  from  human  in- 
struction, but  from  divine  inspiration."  The  first  great  master 
of  scholasticism,  Guillaume  de  Champeaux,  the  progenitor 
of  Paris  University,  was  bound  to  Bernard  in  loving  friend- 
ship till  his  death,  and  asked  to  be  buried  in  the  abbey  church 
at  Clairvaux. 

Detachment  from  the  things  of  the  world  never  weakened 
this  saint's  human  affections.  What  cry  from  a  stricken 
heart  is  more  moving  than  Bernard's  lament  for  his  brother 
Gerard?  That  elder  brother  was  following  a  knight's  career 
when  Bernard  won  him  for  God's  service  in  the  cloister. 
There  for  twenty-five  years  they  lived  side  by  side.  They 
had  just  returned  together  from  Italy  when  Gerard  suddenly 
died.  Dry-eyed,  Bernard  attended  the  burial,  and  dry-eyed 
he  went  about  his  daily  tasks.  He  mounted  the  pulpit  to 
continue  an  exposition  of  the  Canticle  of  Canticles  which  he 
was  conducting,  and  all  at  once  his  grief  broke  forth  irresist- 
ibly in  one  of  the  sublime  elegies  of  literature,  recorded  by 
a  monk  of  Clairvaux  who  heard  it:  "What  is  there  in  common 
between  this  Canticle  of  joy  and  me  who  am  in  bitter 
anguish!  ...  I  have  done  violence  to  my  heart.  .  .  .  Grief 
shut  in  but  wounds  with  deeper  sting.  It  has  vanquished  me. 
What  I  suffer  must  have  its  way.  I  must  pour  out  my  trouble 
before  you,  my  sons,  who  knew  the  faithful  comrade  I  have 

469 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

lost  and  the  justice  of  my  sorrow.  You  knew  his  vigilance, 
his  sweetness;  you  knew  my  need  of  him.  When  I  was  weak 
in  body,  he  strengthened  me;  when  I  hesitated  he  spurred 
me  on;  when  I  grew  negligent  he  cautioned  me.  My  Gerard! 
why  have  you  left  me  to  stumble  alone  on  the  road  we  two 
trod  together,  my  brother  by  blood  but  still  more  by  religion! 
Ah!  I  would  know  if  you  still  think  of  one  whom  you  loved, 
if,  in  God's  presence,  you  can  lean  toward  our  distress?  You 
have  shed  your  mortal  weaknesses,  but  surely  not  your 
human  tendernesses,  for  charity  endures,  says  the  apostle. 
No!  my  Gerard  does  not  forget  me  in  eternity!  It  was  our 
joy  to  be  together,  inextricably  were  our  spirits  interlinked, 
the  same  thoughts,  the  same  emotions,  the  same  will;  one 
only  heart,  one  only  soul  between  us;  with  one  blow,  the 
sword  has  pierced  my  heart  and  his.  .  .  .  That  I  might 
have  tranquillity  he  took  on  his  own  shoulders  the  material 
cares  of  the  convent.  It  was  his  heart  bore  my  troubles.  His 
eyes  led  my  steps.  Now,  when  a  need  rises  I  turn  to  where 
I  think  to  find  him,  and  he  is  not  there!  ...  I  am  deprived 
of  the  best  part  of  myself  and  I  must  not  weep.  My  heart 
is  torn  from  my  bosom,  and  I  must  not  suffer.  .  .  .  But  my 
courage  is  not  of  stone.  ...  I  suffer,  I  weep,  and  my  grief 
is  ever  before  me.  ..." 

And  so  on  it  runs,  this  lamentation  with  its  Hebraic  note  of 
sorrow's  passion.  Impregnated  through  and  through  was 
Bernard  with  the  Bible,  and  his  speech  fell  naturally  into  its 
cadences.  To  mark  the  biblical  references  in  his  works 
would  be,  says  the  student,  to  fill  half  the  pages  with 
annotations. 

There  is  a  book  of  interior  consolation,  precious  to  humanity, 
which  has  preserved  for  us  intact  the  spiritual  teachings  of 
this  Cistercian  abbot  who  led  the  XII  century.  Scholars 
say  that  the  Imitation  of  Christ  bears  the  direct  impress  of 
St.  Bernard's  spirit,  that  it  reproduced  and  analyzed  his 
writings.  Whoever  its  author,  his  prayer  Da  mihi  nesciri  has 
been  answered. 

Those  who  have  been  comforted  by  the  book  which,  next 

470 


THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BURGUNDY 

to  the  Bible,  has  been  chief  solace  for  the  stricken  heart,  have 
leaned  unaware  on  the  purpose,  the  faith,  and  the  purity  of 
the  greatest  saint  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  man  who  made 
Burgundy  as  illustrious  by  its  Cistercian  reformers  and  mis- 
sionary builders  as  it  had  been  by  its  Benedictines  when 
Cluny  was  a  world  power. 


CHAPTER  X 

Gothic  Art  in  Normandy  1 

The  cathedral  was  perfected  slowly  and  passionately.  The  Romans 
brought  to  it  their  force,  their  logic,  their  serenity.  The  Barba- 
rians brought  to  it  their  naive  grace,  their  love  of  life,  their 
dreamful  imaginations.  From  this  unpremeditated  collaboration 
sprang  a  work  modelled  by  times  and  places.  It  is  the  French 
genius  and  its  image.  It  did  not  progress  by  fits  and  starts;  it 
was  not  the  servant  of  pride.  It  mounted  in  the  course  of  cen- 
turies to  complete  expression.  And  that  expression,  one  through- 
out the  country,  varies  with  each  province,  with  each  fraction  of 
a  province,  just  enough  to  make  interesting  the  chain  that 
joins  all  the  pearls  of  this  monumental  necklace  of  France. 

— RODIN,  Les  cathedrales  de  France.2 

IRTUALLY  the  land  conquered  by  the  vikings 
received  its  civilization  from  monasteries.  Like 
Burgundy,  Normandy  was  a  very  Egypt,  a 
Thebaid,  for  the  number  of  its  religious  houses. 
Each  baron  sought  to  have  one  on  his  domain. 
In  the  capital  of  the  duchy  was  St.  Ouen,  whose  abbot  owned 
half  the  city;  on  the  same  Seine  lay  Jumieges,  a  center  of  letters 
and  arts,  and  farther  down  the  river  was  St.  Wandrille, 
"nursery  for  saints" — three  noted  houses  that  inherited 

1  Congres  Archeologique,    1908;    V.  Ruprich-Robert,   L' architecture  normande   aux 
Xle  et  XIIe  siecles  (Paris,  1897),  2  vols.;  A.  de  Caumont  et  Ch.  de  Beaurepaire,  Memoires 
historiques  sur  la  Normandie:  antiquites,  monuments,  histoire  (1827-36) ;   La  Normandie 
monumentale  et  pittoresque.     Seine-Inferieure,  Calvados,  Eure,  Orne,  Manche  (Le  Havre, 
Lemale  et  Cie),  8  vols.  folio;   Leon  le  Cordier,  " L'architecture  de  la  Normandie  au 
XIII6  siecle,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1863,  vol.  29,  p.  513;    Chanoine  Poree,  L'art 
normand  (Paris,  1914);   Taylor  et   Nodier,  Voyages  pittoresques  .  .  .  dans  I'ancienne 
France.     Normandie  (Paris,  Didron,  1825),  2  vols.,  folio;    Henri  Prentout,  La  Nor- 
mandie (Collection,  Les  provinces  franchises),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1910);    Lechande 
d'Anisy,  Les  anciennes  abbayes  de  Normandie  (1834),  2  vols.  and  atlas;    Ordericus 
Vitalis,     The    Ecclesiastical    History    of    England    and    Normandy    (London,     Bohn 
Library,  1856),  4  vols.;   Albert  Sorel,  Pages  normandes  (Paris,  Plon,  1907). 

On  Normandy's  history,  see  Stubbs,  Freeman,  Palgrave,  H.  W.  C.  Davis,  G.  B. 
Adams,  Sir  J.  H.  Ramsay,  Miss  Kate  Norgate,  Mrs.  J.  R.  Green,  etc.  A.  Thierry  in 
his  Conquete  de  V Angleterre  gives  details  of  the  oppression  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  by 
their  Norman  conquerors. 

2  Rodin,  Les  cathedrales  de  France,  (Paris,  A.  Colin,  1914). 

472 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

directly  the  apostolate  of  Celtic  Columbanus.  From  St. 
Wandrille  went  monks  to  establish  Fecamp,  favorite  of  the 
Norman  dukes,  with  an  early-Gothic  church  equal  to  a  cathe- 
dral. Other  monks  from  Fontenelle  reorganized  the  most 
romantic  pile  of  monastic  buildings  in  the  world,  Mont-Saint- 
Michel,  guarded  by  the  patron  of  the  kingdom  of  France, 
Sanctus  Michael  in  periculo  maris. 

When  that  man  of  genius,  William  of  Volpiano,  abbot  of 
St.  Benigne,  at  Dijon,  came  to  Normandy  to  reform  its  houses, 
he  himself  rebuilt  the  abbatial  church  at  Bernay  which  archi- 
tecturally is  an  ancestress  for  such  Romanesque  work  as 
Cerisy-la-Foret,  Lessay,  the  Caen  abbatials,  and  St.  Georges 
de  Boscherville.  At  Mortain,  at  St.  Sauveur-le-Vicomte, 
at  St.  Evroult,  were  monastery  churches,  and  the  picturesque 
ruins  of  Hambye  cause  one  to  mourn  that  Primary  Gothic 
abbatial  wrecked  by  the  Revolution.  St.  Pierre-sur-Dives 
and  the  collegiate  at  Eu  are  later  monastic  works  of  the  prov- 
ince. For  its  influence  as  a  world  power — what  we  may  call 
the  Cluny  of  Normandy — was  Bee  abbey  that  became, 
under  Lanfranc  the  Lombard,  and  St.  Anselm  the  Pied- 
montese,  the  intellectual  leader  of  the  West.  Its  mammoth 
church  has  gone  the  way  of  Cluny 's — scarcely  stone  left  on 

stone. 

BEG  ABBEY i 

O  beata  solitude! 
O  sola  beatitudo! 
— (Inscription  on  a  Benedictine  monastery  in  France.) 

In  Bee,  theology  for  the  first  time  spoke  the  language  of 
philosophy.  Herlouin,  an  unlettered  knight,  who  learned 
to  write  only  at  forty,  founded,  in  1034,  an  abbey  on  his 

1  Chanoine  Poree,  Histoire  de  Vabbaye  du  Bee  (Evreux,  impri.  de  Herissey,  1901); 
La  Normandie  monumentale  et  pittoresque  Eure,  vol.  2,  p.  221,  "Bee,"  Chanoine  Poree 
(Le  Havre,  Lemale  et  Cie,  1895);  Ragey,  Histoire  de  Saint  Anselm  (Paris,  1889); 
Martin  Rule,  Life  and  Times  of  St.  Anselm  (London,  1883). 

Other  studies  of  St.  Anselm  by  Remusat  (Paris,  1853);  R.  W.  Church  (London, 
1870);  J.  M.  Rigg  (London,  1896),  and  in  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury 
(London,  1860-75);  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France,  vol.  8,  p.  260,  "Lanfranc" 
(Paris,  1749);  vol.  9,  p.  398,  "St.  Anselm";  p.  369,  "Gondulfe,  eveque  de  Rochester" 
(Paris,  1750). 

473 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

lands  on  the  banks  of  a  beck  in  the  valley  of  Brionne.  With 
the  monks  who  gathered  round  him,  he  was  engaged  in  build- 
ing with  his  own  hands  his  convent  when,  one  day  in  1042, 
Lanfranc  of  Pavia  arrived  in  their  midst,  the  learned  one 
needed  by  those  simple,  good  men.  Lanf ranee  had  been 
teaching  at  Avranches,  and  was  journeying  to  Rouen  when 
brigands  seized  him  in  a  forest  near  Bee,  stripped  and  tied 
him  to  a  tree  to  perish.  Before  aid  came  to  him,  as  he  faced 
death  during  long  hours — learning  that  despite  his  scholar- 
ship he  was  incapable  of  reciting  one  single  psalm  to  support 
his  soul — a  new  comprehension  of  life  dawned  on  him,  and 
he  vowed  himself  to  the  triumph  of  religion. 

The  school  which  he  opened  in  Bee  abbey  soon  drew  students 
from  all  parts  of  Europe.  From  northern  Italy  came  young 
Anselm,  destined  twice  to  succeed  his  master,  in  Bee  as  prior, 
in  Canterbury  as  archbishop.  Lanfranc,  practiced  in  the 
affairs  of  the  world,  a  born  statesman,  was  better  fitted  to 
be  primate  of  England  than  was  Anselm  with  his  childlike, 
tender  nature,  and  his  subtle,  speculative  brain.  Bee  gave 
still  a  third  archbishop  to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  Theobald, 
the  patron  of  St.  Thomas  Becket;  Martin,  whilom  abbot  of 
Bee,  built  Peterborough  Cathedral. 

For  thirty-three  years  St.  Anselm  wrote  and  taught  in  Bee 
abbey,  student  first,  then  monk,  then  prior,  and  in  1078  abbot. 
There  at  night,  while  all  the  house  slept,  he  wrote  the  books 
which  have  won  for  him  the  title  of  founder  of  the  Christian 
philosophy  of  the  Middle  Ages.  A  forerunner  of  scholas- 
ticism, he  was  among  the  first  to  set  forth  the  conformity  of 
Christian  doctrine  with  human  reason.  Dante  places  him 
in  Paradise  among  the  great  contemplatives.  The  union 
of  the  mystic  and  the  rational  in  theology,  in  the  Norman 
abbey  ruled  by  Anselm,  started  impulses  which  were  to  pass 
down  through  the  centuries.  An  immediate  result  was  the 
quickening  of  the  mental  life  of  the  XII  century.  Among 
St.  Anselm's  pupils  at  Bee  was  Anselm  de  Laon,  whose  classes, 
with  those  of  Guillaume  de  Champeaux,  are  regarded  as  the 
nucleus  of  the  University  of  Paris. 

474 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

What  is  of  interest  to  us  here  is  that,  from  the  hour  of  the 
opening  of  men's  minds  to  scholastic  learning,  rose  the  archi- 
tecture of  France,  that  the  giant  energy  which  built  cathe- 
drals had  its  source  in  a  faith  that  believed  in  order  that  it  might 
understand,  which  is  St.  Anselm's  own  proposition,  Credo  ut 
intelligam,  as  well  as  it  is  the  apogee  flight  reached  by  Plato, 
what  the  Greek  philosopher  called  the  wings  of  the  soul.  And 
Plato's  peer,  XHI-century  Aquinas,  voiced  the  Greek's  vision, 
and  repeated  Anselm's  thought,  in  a  hymn  whose  subtle 
stanzas  are  sung  daily  over  Christendom:  "Prcestat  ndes 
supplementum  sensuum  defectui"  ("Faith  for  all  defects  sup- 
plying where  the  feeble  senses  fail").  Anselm,  with  his 
"face  of  an  angel,"  naively  enthusiastic  over  his  metaphysical 
proof  of  God,  writing  alone  in  Bee,  in  the  silence  of  the  night, 
was  digging  unaware  the  foundations  for  Chartres,  Rheims, 
Amiens,  and  those  other  visions  of  the  Beyond  to  which  man 
gave  tangible  shape  in  the  scholastic-trained  centuries  because, 
believing,  he  understood. 

Sorely  against  his  will  St.  Anselm  left  the  peace  of  Bee  to 
take  up  the  duties  of  England's  primacy  in  an  hour  when  the 
eternal  lay-ecclesiastical  controversy  was  embittered.  The 
wanton  and  despotic  William  Rufus  was  the  opponent  who 
overwhelmed  him.  His  sole  friends  were  the  little  people 
for  whom,  at  that  time,  any  churchman  who  maintained 
independence  against  layman  tyranny  was  a  champion  of 
civic  liberties.  The  scholar  of  Bee  was  the  only  prelate  of 
the  many  crossing  from  Normandy  to  England  who  displayed 
loving  kindness  for  the  downtrodden  Saxons.  Homesick  in 
England,  St.  Anselm  used  pathetically  to  sign  his  letters  to 
his  intimates,  "Brother  Anselm  by  the  heart,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  by  coercion." 

At  Le  Bec-Hellouin  to-day  little  remains  of  the  abbatial 
whose  choir  once  soared  on  twenty  immense  piers.  Again  and 
again  the  church  was  reconstructed.  In  1077  Archbishop  Lan- 
franc  crossed  the  Channel  for  a  dedication.  Early  in  the  XIII 
century  the  master-of -works  at  Rouen,  Enguerrand,  proceeded 
to  Bee  to  superintend  a  new  Gothic  edifice.  A  fire  in  1263  caused 

475 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

another  renewal  of  the  choir.  In  the  Rayonnant  day  the  nave 
was  rebuilt  on  the  same  lines  as  St.  Ouen's  abbatial.  The 
religious  wars  of  the  XVI  century  damaged  the  church,  whose 
demolition  was  continued  as  late  as  1814.  What  now  remains 
are  a  portion  of  the  transept,  a  chapter  house  of  the  XII  cen- 
tury, and  the  isolated  tower  of  St.  Nicholas  (1467-80),  another 
memorial  of  Normandy's  rejoicing  to  be  free  of  foreign  rule. 
Eight  large  statues  adorn  its  upper  walls. 

Bee  had  been  pillaged  by  Henry  V's  troops  before  Jeanne 
d'Arc's  advent,  and  the  abbot  then  appointed  by  the  invaders 
was  one  of  the  sixty  university  professors  and  ecclesiastics 
who  condemned  the  Maid  to  death  in  Rouen,  1431.  Ten 
abbots  of  Normandy  thus  tarnished  their  great  names,  but 
it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  in  each  case  the  delinquent 
monastery  had  recently  been  sacked  because  of  its  patriotic 
stand  against  the  foreigners,  and  that  it  was  governed  by  a 
tool  of  the  victors.  Fifty  Norman  abbeys  honored  them- 
selves by  their  absence  from  the  torture  of  a  young  girl  who 
had  all  England  against  her,  half  of  France,  as  well  as  the 
perverted  learning  of  Paris  University. 

NORMANDY'S  ROMANESQUE  SCHOOL  > 

The  Christian  world  made  no  mistake  when,  in  calm  confidence,  it  sought, 
under  the  wing  of  the  Benedictine  abbeys,  that  strong  education  of  the 
Western  races  which  made  possible  all  the  marvels  of  faith,  courage,  fervor, 
and  humility  with  which  Europe  was  illuminated  from  the  XI  to  the  XV 
century,  from  Gregory  VII  to  Jeanne  d'Arc. 

— CHARLES  DE  MONTALEMBERT,  The  Monks  of  the  West. 

1 V.  Ruprich-Robert,  L' architecture  normande  aux  Xle  et  XIII6  siecles  (Paris. 
1885-87);  G.  T.  Rivoira,  Lombardic  Architecture,  vol.  2,  on  Normandy  (London 
and  New  York,  1910),  translated  from  Le  origini  dell ' architettura  lombarda  (Milano, 
1908);  Canoine  Poree,  L'art  normand  (Paris,  1914);  Camille  Enlart,  Manuel  d'arche- 
ologie  franc, aise  (Paris,  Picard  et  fils,  1904),  2  vols.;  R.  de  Lasteyrie,  L' architecture 
religieuse  en  France  a  I'epoque  romane  (Paris,  1912);  John  Bilson,  "The  Beginnings 
of  Gothic  Architecture,"  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects, 
Third  series,  1898-99,  vol.  6,  pp.  289,  322,  345;  1901-02,  vol.  9,  p.  350;  Rene  Page, 
"La  decoration  geometrique  dans  1'ecole  romane  de  Normandie,"  in  Congres  Archeol., 
1908,  vol.  2,  p.  614;  Louis  Engerand,  "La  sculpture  romane  en  Normandie,"  in 
Bulletin  Monumental,  1904,  vol.  68,  p.  405;  Arthur  Kingsley  Porter,  Medieval  Archi- 
tecture, vol.  1,  pp.  285  to  332,  gives  the  chief  Norman  Romanesque  monuments  (New 
York  and  London,  1907);  ibid.,  Lombard  Architecture  (New  Haven,  Yale  University 
Press,  1917),  3  vols.  and  atlas. 

476 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

Normandy's  hardy  personality  showed  at  its  best  in  her 
Romanesque  monastic  churches.  Their  design  is  decisive 
and  vast,  their  construction  solid — the  Norman  excelled  in 
masoncraft — and  as  art  they  have  never  been  surpassed  for 
grave  impressiveness.  In  the  Norman  minsters  is  a  primeval 
energy  admirably  restrained,  a  massive  grace,  a  something 
of  reasoned  simplicity  lost  in  the  Gothic  cathedrals  of  the 
region.  One  who  fell  under  the  spell  of  Normandy's  Roman- 
esque architecture  has  told  how  its  repose  "appeals  to  men 
and  women  who  have  lived  long  and  are  tired,  who  want 
rest,  who  have  done  with  aspiration  and  ambitions,  whose 
life  has  been  a  broken  arch.  .  .  .  The  quiet  strength  of  these 
lines,  the  solid  support  of  the  moderate  lights,  the  absence 
of  display,  of  effort,  of  self-consciousness,  satisfy  them  as  no 
other  art  does.  They  come  back  to  it  to  rest  after  a  long 
cycle  of  pilgrimage — the  cradle  of  rest  from  which  their 
ancestors  started."1 

No  church  earlier  than  the  year  1000  has  survived  in  Nor- 
mandy. The  Norseman,  while  still  an  unbaptized  buccaneer, 
laid  low  every  Merovingian  and  Carolingian  edifice.  All 
was  in  ruin.  "From  Blois  to  Senlis,"  says  the  old  record, 
"not  an  acre  is  plowed,  for  none  dare  work  in  the  fields." 
Then,  Rollo,  chief  of  the  marauders,  baptized  in  Rouen, 
settled  down  in  the  duchy  granted  him  in  fief  by  the  harassed 
king  of  France.  In  an  incredibly  short  time  the  erstwhile 
pagans  became  the  most  indefatigable  of  church  builders.  For 
Normandy,  the  date  911  is  as  important  a  landmark  as  is  910 
for  Burgundy,  the  year  of  Cluny's  foundation.2 

The  Norman  Romanesque  school  made  general  use  of  the 
roll  molding  at  window  and  portal,  of  griffes  at  the  base  of 
piers,  blind  arcading,  intercrossing  wall  arches  (that  became 


1  Henry    Adams,  Mont   Saint-Michel    and    Chartrcs    (Boston,    Houghton    Mifflin 
Company,  1913). 

2  Normandy's  Millenaire  of  1911  was  celebrated  fitly.    Among  the  books  it  called 
forth  are:    Gabriel  Monod,  Le  role  de  la  Normandie  dans  I'histoire  de  France  (Paris, 
1911);  H.  Prentout,  Essai  sur  les  origines  et  lafondation  du  ditche  de  Normandy  (Paris, 
1911);  A.  Albert,  Petit  histoire  de  Normandie  (Paris,  1912).     In  1915  appeared  Charles 
Homer  Haskins,  The  Normans  in  European  History  (Boston,  Houghton  Mifflin). 

477 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

monotonous  in  the  Anglo-Norman  school),  and  very  frequently 
it  contrived  an  interior  passage  at  the  clearstory  level,  whose 
effect  was  heightened  by  the  use  of  arches  of  different  designs 
in  its  outer  and  inner  walls. 

Certain  archaeologists  contend  that  the  predominant  influ- 
ences in  the  development  of  Norman  Romanesque  were 
Lombard,  and  that  in  this  it  differed  from  other  French  schools 
which  in  main  part  derived  from  local  Carolingian  work. 
As  the  Norman's  creative  genius  was  not  on  a  par  with  his 
constructive  abilities,  it  seems  reasonable  to  look  for  foreign 
influence  when  finding  its  school  precociously  formed  by  the 
middle  of  the  XI  century.  The  Lombards  used,  before  the 
Normans,  the  alternate  system  of  ground  supports,  cubic 
capitals,  transverse  arches,  compound  piers,  crypts,  and 
raised  choirs,  and  their  most  striking  feature  of  exterior 
decoration  was  the  arched  corbel  table  that  made  a  contin- 
uous cornice.  Mr.  Arthur  Kingsley  Porter  says  that  diagonals 
were  used  in  Lombardy  early  in  the  XI  century  as  an  expe- 
dient to  economize  wood,  groin  vaults  being  molded  on  a 
temporary  wooden  substructure,  but  as  the  Lombard  never 
counterbutted  his  intersecting  ribs,  such  vaults  proved  unsat- 
isfactory and  were  given  up  after  1120.  If  the  Norman  had 
an  early  knowledge  of  diagonals  through  the  Lombard,  like 
the  Lombard  he  failed  to  derive  from  them  their  constructive 
consequences.  That  fact  of  creative  genius  no  one  can  deny 
to  the  Ile-de-France.  Even  if  the  controversy  as  to  who 
first  used  Gothic  ribs  should  be  decided  in  favor  of  the  Anglo- 
Norman  school,  and  behind  their  use  of  it,  traced  to  Lombardy's 
Romanesque  builders,  none  of  them  saw  in  it  what  Abbot 
Suger  did — the  radical  member  of  a  new  system  of  building. 

William  of  Volpiano,  a  Lombard,  and  an  architect  as  well 
as  a  reformer,  spent  many  active  years  in  Normandy,  where 
he  died  in  1031.  At  Fecamp  he  is  said  to  have  trained  a 
group  of  masons.  A  decade  after  his  death,  Lanfranc,  born 
in  northern  Italy,  became  a  leader  in  the  duchy,  and  under 
him  was  built  the  present  nave  of  the  Abbaye-aux-Hommes 
at  Caen.  It  seems  very  natural  to  suppose  that  such  men, 

478 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

alert  as  they  were  to  architectural  progress,  should  have 
exerted  influence  on  the  Norman  school.  However,  M. 
Lefevre-Pontalis  thinks  it  wiser  not  to  exaggerate  the  imme- 
diate influence  from  beyond  the  Alps.  He  holds  that  the 
Romanesque  school  of  Normandy  proceeded  in  main  part 
from  the  same  element  as  the  other  pre-Gothic  schools  of 
France,  elements  derived  somewhat  from  Barbarian  sources, 
but  chiefly  from  Rome's  occupation  of  Gaul.  In  the  case 
of  Normandy  the  Barbarian  influences  would  be  largely 
Scandinavian,  and  there  has  been  considerable  speculation 
over  the  Norseman's  wooden  structure  and  the  Norman's 
partiality  for  the  pleated  capital. 

Mr.  John  Bilson  is  unsympathetic  to  Mr.  Kingsley  Porter's 
ideas  of  Lombard  influence  in  Normandy,  and  he  considers 
the  early  dates  ascribed  to  Lombard  diagonals  most  improbable. 
Why,  he  asks,  if  the  solution  was  reached  in  Lombardy  about 
1025,  did  it  take  three  quarters  of  a  century  for  the  Normans, 
directly  in  contact  with  the  builders  of  Italy,  to  arrive  after 
long  experimenting  at  the  same  intersecting  ribs?  He  claims 
that  the  Ile-de-France  was  indebted  to  Normandy  for  diagonals, 
which  were  not  in  use  in  the  royal  domain  before  1130,  but 
that,  once  that  school  came  into  possession  of  intersecting 
pointed  arches  and  flying  buttresses,  it  developed  from  them 
a  new  system  of  construction,  clothing  it  with  a  new  expres- 
sion, which  we  call  Gothic.  The  controversy  is  by  no  means 
closed. 

Normandy's  Romanesque  school  spread  far  afield.1  It 
passed  into  Picardy  and  penetrated  as  far  south  as  Chartres. 
It  crossed  the  Channel  with  the  adventurers  who  descended 
on  England,  and  with  other  free  lances  who  carved  out  distant 
kingdoms  for  themselves,  its  characteristics  appeared  in 
southern  Italy  and  Sicily. 

1  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "  Les  influences  normandes  an  XIe  et  au  XIIs  siecle  dans  le 
nord  de  la  France,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1900,  vol.  70;  Camille  Enlart,  L'influence 
exterieure  de  Vart  normand  au  moycn  age;  F.  Chalundon,  Jlistoirc  de  la  domination 
normande  en  Italie  et  en  Sidle  (Paris,  1907);  Ch.  Diehl,  Palerme  et  Syracuse  (Col- 
lection, Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1907);  fimile  Bertaud,  L'art  dans 
V Italie  meridionale. 

479 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  ornamentation  of  the  Norman  school  came  in  part 
from  Oriental  or  Byzantine  sources  already  in  use  in  the 
Carolingian  era,  and  in  part  from  Scandinavian.  Unlike 
Burgundy,  this  province,  despite  its  good  stone,  never  won 
distinction  in  sculpture  either  in  the  Romanesque  or  the 
Gothic  day.  Never  was  Norman  decoration  equal  to  Nor- 
man construction,  otherwise  this  school  would  be  without 
a  peer.  Its  ornamentation  lacks  variety  and  imagination. 
Geometric  designs  were  endlessly  repeated.  Both  in  England 
and  in  Normandy  the  traveler  grows  weary  of  the  zigzag 
or  chevron  motive,  taken  from  Merovingian  interlacings,  or 
Carolingian  triangular  outlines,  and  very  weary,  too,  of  its 
variants,  the  dog-tooth  or  star  ornament,  and  the  fret  or 
meander  which  reproduced  a  classical  motive.  The  Caro- 
lingian billet  molding  was  also  overused.  Such  monotony 
of  decoration  was  probably  the  defect  of  a  good  quality- 
caution  and  thoroughness.  The  Norman  seldom  attempted 
what  he  could  not  put  through,  hence  his  churches  were 
usually  completed,  even  to  having  their  towers  crowned  by 
stone  spires.  The  builders  of  the  Ile-de-France  were  less 
cautious,  but  more  sublime. 

THE  ROMANESQUE  ABBEY  CHURCH  OF  JUMIEGES » 

Aucun  pays  n'avait  fourni  au  moyen  age  plus  de  missionnaires  chr^tiens 
qu'Irlande,  ni  d'hommes  empresses  de  r£pandre  chez  les  nations  6trangeres 
les  etudes  de  leur  patrie. — A.  THIERRY. 

The  first  Romanesque  church  of  Normandy  with  archi- 
tectural pretensions,  the  first  to  present  the  regional  school 
fully  formed,  was  the  abbatial  of  Jumieges,  begun  about  1040. 

1  Roger  Martin  du  Card,  L'obbaye  de  Jumieges,  etude  archeol.  des  mines  (Mont- 
didier,  1909);  ibid.,  "Jumieges,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1909,  vol.  73,  p.  34; 
John  Bilson,  on  "Jumieges,"  in  Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1901,  p.  454;  F.  Lot,  Etudes 
critiques  sur  Vabbaye  de  Saint-Wandrille  (Paris  1913);  La  Normandie  monumentale 
et  pittoresque.  Seine-Ijiferieure,  p.  219,  "Jumieges,"  Alfred  Darcel;  p.  353,  "St. 
Wandrille,"  Abbe  Sauvage  (Le  Havre,  Lemale  et  Cie);  Abbe  Julien  Loth,  Histoire 
de  Vabbaye  royale  de  St.  Pierre  de  Jumieges  (Rouen,  1882-85),  3  vols.;  David, 
Les  grandes  abbayes  de  I 'Occident  (Lille,  1907);  Lefevre-Pontalis,  Les  influences 
normandes  au  XIe  et  au  XIIe  siecle  dans  le  nord  de  la  France  (1906),  also  in  Bulletin 
Monumental,  1906,  vol.  70. 

480 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

That  virile,  rugged  "chateau  de  Dieu"  stands  on  a  semi- 
island  of  the  Seine  where  the  river  makes  a  gracious  twenty- 
mile  meander,  or  rather,  there  stand  the  "incredible  masses 
of  masonry"  which  are  the  ruins  of  Jumieges,  a  wall  of  the 
big  central  lantern,  a  roofless  nave,  and  two  gaunt  fagade 
towers,  the  only  Norman  towers  entirely  of  the  XI  century. 
In  all  France  is  no  more  austere,  stark,  and  grandiose  a 
ruin. 

How  from  such  a  predecessor  as  Bernay's  abbatial  the 
Norman  could  immediately  evolve  an  architectural  feat  as 
tremendous  as  Jumieges  seems  explicable  only  by  some 
strong  exterior  impetus.  Here  is  the  Lombard  alternance 
of  ground  supports  over  whose  origin  in  Normandy  much 
printer's  ink  has  been  spilled.  As  the  Lombard  groin  vault 
embraced  two  bays,  a  strong  pier  was  needed  only  for  the 
transverse  arch  separating  the  large  square  vault  sections; 
or  if  a  timber  roof  was  used,  a  reinforced  pier  was  required 
only  for  the  bigger  tiebeams.  Now,  at  Jumieges,  the  lower 
structure  proves  (say  certain  archaeologists)  that  never  was 
a  masonry  roof  planned  for,  so  it  is  probable  that  the  open 
timber  roof  required  heavy  tiebeams  only  at  every  other 
bay,  hence  an  alternance  of  substantial  and  slight  piers  to 
correspond  to  the  alternance  of  big  beams  and  little  beams. 
Jumieges  also  used  the  Lombard  engaged  shaft.  Its  uniform 
hautes  colonnes,  without  capitals,  rise  from  soil  to  roof,  serv- 
ing as  interior  buttresses,  and  some  say  as  supports  for  the 
tiebeams,  since  they  rose  too  high  to  be  intended  for  a  masonry 
roof.  They  bind  together  the  three  stories,  and  aesthetically 
their  rhythm  breaks  the  monotony  of  the  plain  walls.  Mr. 
John  Bilson  thinks  that  the  wall  shafts  of  Jumieges  can  have 
had  no  other  motive  than  to  support  a  vault  over  the  prin- 
cipal span,  and  cannot  have  been  the  supports  of  mere  tie- 
beams.  They  may  have  been  planned,  suggests  Prof.  Baldwin 
Brown,  to  carry  an  undergirding  arch  such  as  occurs  beneath 
some  wooden  roofs. 

Normandy's  invention  of  the  sexpartite  vault  came  about, 
thinks  M.  Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  through  her  predilection  for 

481 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

multiple  lines.  With  such  Gothic  vaults — each  section  of 
which  embraced  two  bays — she  proceeded  to  reroof  various 
of  her  Romanesque  abbatials,  whose  already  existent  alter- 
nated piers  were  thus  made  logical.  Almost  it  would  seem 
as  if  the  presence  of  ground  supports,  substantial  and  slight, 
had  called  into  being  the  new  type  of  masonry  roof.  St. 
Denis  used  a  sexpartite  vault  in  1140,  and  M.  Lefevre-Pontalis 
suggested,  at  one  time,  that  Normandy  derived  the  idea 
from  the  Ile-de-France.  In  the  royal  domain,  however,  no 
steps  are  to  be  found  leading  up  to  it,  whereas  in  Normandy 
can  be  seen  sexpartite  vaults  of  primitive  design,  such  as 
those  covering  the  Abbaye-aux-Dames,  which  consist  merely 
of  two  diagonals  with  a  transverse  rib  crossing  their  apex.  In 
the  Abbaye-aux-Hommes,  where  the  timber  roof  of  the  nave 
was  replaced  by  a  Gothic  vault  as  early,  perhaps,  as  1135, 
the  vault  web  is  warped  to  the  intermediate  transverse  rib. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  the  sexpartite  vault  originated 
from  the  employment  of  the  diaphragm  arch. 

Jumieges  abbey  church  was  dedicated  "with  great  spiritual 
joy,"  so  an  old  chronicle  relates,  by  saintly  Archbishop  Maurille 
of  Rouen,  in  the  presence  of  William  the  Conqueror  and 
Matilda.  Maurille  had  been  trained  at  Fecamp  under  the 
great  William  of  Volpiano.  A  Gothic  choir,  added  to  the 
abbatial  later,  was  blown  up  after  the  Revolution  by  a  con- 
tractor who  acquired  the  monastery  in  order  to  sell  its  stones 
as  building  material.  Under  the  flank  of  the  now  roofless 
nave  nestles  a  ruined  little  church  of  the  XIV  century,  St. 
Peter  its  tutelary.  Two  of  its  bays  incorporate  parts  from 
a  Carolingian  church  built  by  Rollo's  son,  William  Long- 
sword  (928-943).  They  are  of  archaeological  interest  in  being 
the  oldest  examples  extant  of  twin  arches  beneath  a  common 
arch  for  the  tribune-opening  on  the  middle  vessel.  The 
arrangement  became  popular  in  the  Romanesque  churches 
of  Normandy  and  England,  and  can  be  seen  at  Mont-Saint- 
Michel,  Rochester,  Ely,  Gloucester,  Peterborough,  and 
Winchester. 

Jumieges  was  an  ancient  foundation  of  Clovis  II  and  Queen 

482 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

Bathilde.  They  granted  forests  on  the  Seine  to  St.  Philibert 
(d.  684),  who  had  been  an  intimate  at  the  Merovingian  court, 
of  St.  Ouen  and  St.  Wandrille.  To  obtain  the  Celtic  rule 
of  Columbanus  at  its  source,  Philibert  visited  Luxeuil  and 
Bobbio,  and  he  dedicated  a  chapel  of  his  abbatial  at  Jumieges 
to  the  Irish  missionary.  His  own  cult  was  to  crop  out  at 
Tournus  and  Dijon  when  the  Norse  piratical  inroads  drove 
the  inmates  of  wrecked  monastic  houses  into  Burgundy. 

Jumieges  was  a  scene  of  pillage  and  massacre  during  the 
last  acts  of  the  Capet-Plantagenet  duel,  when  Henry  V,  the 
victor  of  Agincourt,  overran  Normandy.  The  abbot,  then 
appointed,  sat  in  judgment  on  St.  Jeanne  in  1431,  and  fell 
down  dead  three  months  later.  After  Charles  VII  had  entered 
Rouen  as  conqueror,  in  1449,  he  retired  to  Jumieges.  During 
the  feasts  of  rejoicing  la  dame  de  beaulte,  Agnes  Sorel,  died  in 
a  manor  close  by,  and  her  memorial  stone  in  Jumieges  abbatial 
recorded  her  "pitiful  loving  kindness  to  all  men  and  especially 
the  poor  and  children."  Days  of  decline  came  for  Jumieges 
under  her  commendatory  abbots.  A  XVII-century  revival 
of  learning  was  led  by  the  reformers  of  the  Congregation  of 
St.  Maur,  but  the  famous  establishment  went  under  com- 
pletely during  the  Revolution.  The  sequence  is  the  same 
for  most  French  abbeys. 

Farther  down  the  Seine,  at  what  once  was  Fontenelle, 
stand  the  less  imposing  ruins  of  St.  Wandrille's  abbatial, 
consisting  of  a  transept  of  the  XIII  century  and  a  Flam- 
boyant Gothic  cloister,  whose  lave-mains  is  a  gem  of  Renais- 
sance delicacy.  The  house  was  founded  in  649  by  St.  Wan- 
drille, of  Merovingian  blood.  Like  his  friend,  Philibert  of 
Jumieges,  he  sought  the  rule  of  St.  Columbanus  at  its  foun- 
tainhead,  though  the  more  equable  rule  of  St.  Benedict  was 
to  prevail  in  French  religious  establishments  before  the  VII 
century  closed.  St.  Wandrille  trained  many  of  the  saints 
who  planted  monasteries  over  northern  France,  and  in  later 
centuries  the  Duke  of  Normandy  chose  monks  from  St.  Wan- 
drille's abbey  to  institute  a  Benedictine  house  of  prayer  on 
the  rock  of  St.  Michael-in-peril-of-the-sea. 

483 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

THE  ROMANESQUE  ABBATIALS  AT  CAEN » 

Clochers  lagers,  clochers  aigus, 

Clochers  de  France, 
Par  quel  attrait  d'elan  pieux 
Emportez-vous  si  vite  et  si  haut  dans  les  cieux 
Nos  regards  et  notre  espe"  ranee?  .  .  . 
Longs  et  pareils  a  ces  lances  pointus 
Que  les  grants  piquaient  au  sol, 
Vous  montiez  d'un  seul  jet  pour  ddfier  le  vol 
Des  hirondelles  e"perdues. 

— GEORGES  LAFENESTRE,  "Clochers  de  France."2 

Caen  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  builder's  story  of 
Normandy.  It  has  been  called  the  Romanesque  Mecca.  Its 
church  of  St.  Nicolas  (c.  1180-93),  one  of  the  most  interesting 
Romanesque  edifices  of  the  duchy,  is  dismantled,  but  the 
Abbaye-aux-Hommes  or  St.  Etienne,  and  the  Abbaye-aux- 
Dames,  or  Ste.  Trinite,  are  in  good  repair.  All  the  world 
knows  how  William  the  Conqueror  and  his  good  and  gentle 
Matilda  of  Flanders  each  founded  an  abbey  in  Caen,  "that 
God  might  be  served  by  both  sexes  and  thus  pardon  their 
transgression."  Their  marriage  disobeyed  Church  regula- 
tions concerning  consanguinity  and  a  canonical  atonement 
was  required.  Matilda's  tomb  rests  in  the  middle  of  the 
choir  she  built.  Her  epitaph  was  inscribed  in  letters  of  gold: 
"Consoler  of  the  needy,  lover  of  piety,  a  woman  who,  having 
lavished  her  treasures  in  good  works,  was  poor  to  herself,  but 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1883  and  1908;   H.  Prentout,  Caen  et  Bayeux  (Collection, 
Villes  d'art  celebres),   (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1909);    V.  Ruprich-Robert,  L'eglise  Ste. 
Trinite  et  Veglise  St.  Etienne  de  Caen  (Caen,  1864);  E.  de  Beaurepaire,  Caen  illustre, 
son  histoire,   ses  monuments   (Caen,    1896),   folio;    Bouet,   Analyse  architectural  de 
I'abbaye  de  St.  Etienne  de  Caen  (1868);    La  Normandie  monumentale  et  pittoresque. 
Calvados,  pp.  1,  49;   Arcisse  de  Caumont,  Statistique  monumentale  du  Calvados  (Caen, 
F.  Le  Blanc-Hardal,  1898),  6  vols.;    Camille  Enlart,  Manuel  d 'archeologie  franqaise 
(Paris,  Picard,  1902),  2  vols.;   John  Bilson,  "The  Beginnings  of  Gothic  Architecture," 
in  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  Third  series,  1898-99,  vol.  6, 
pp.  289,  322,  345,  and  p.  259,  his  answer  to  M.  de  Lasteyrie.    Reprinted  in  part  in 
Revue  de  I'art  chretien,  1901,  vol.  44,  pp.  369,  462. 

In  the  excellent  public  library  of  Caen  are  to  be  found  the  Congres  Archeologique, 
the  Bulletin  Monumental,  and  other  archaeological  publications.  Also  the  Catalogue 
des  outrages  normande  de  la  Bibliotheque  municipale  de  Caen  (Caen,  1910-12). 

2  Georges  Lafenestre,  Gloires  et  deuils  de  France  (Paris,  Hachette,  1918). 

484 


The  Crypt  of  the  Abbaye-aux-Dames  at  Caen  (1059-1066) 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

rich  to  the  unfortunate.  Thus  she  sought  the  fellowship  of 
eternal  life  on  the  second  of  November,  1083." 

The  Abbaye-aux-Dames,  begun  about  1059,  was  dedicated 
in  1066  by  the  same  Archbishop  Maurille  who  blessed  the 
new  church  at  Jumieges.  A  few  weeks  after  the  ceremony, 
William  descended  on  England,  which  his  knights  and  villeins 
conquered  to  the  chant  of  the  Chanson  de  Roland,  written 
by  some  unknown  poet  who,  like  themselves,  looked  to  the 
Archangel  of  the  Peril  for  inspiration.  Yet  a  few  decades 
more  and  Roland's  war  song  was  sung  by  the  first  crusaders 
before  Jerusalem.  Architecture,  crusades,  language,  litera- 
ture— many  were  the  vital  movements  then  coming  to 
birth. 

On  the  day  of  the  blessing  of  Matilda's  convent  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  her  little  daughter,  Cecile,  was  laid  on  the  altar  and 
dedicated  to  God's  service.  For  almost  fifty  years  her  aunt, 
Matilda,  daughter  of  Richard  II  and  the  fair  Judith  of 
Brittany,  ruled  the  Abbaye-aux-Dames,  and  then  Cecile 
succeeded  as  second  abbess;  Dame  de  la  mile  de  Caen,  her 
brother  Henry  I  of  England  called  her.  Cecile  was  one  of 
the  learned  ladies  of  her  day,  having  studied  philosophy  and 
belles-lettres  under  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem.  One  recalls 
that  it  was  a  contemporary  abbess — at  St.  Odile  in  Alsace — 
who  made  the  first  attempt  to  compile  an  encyclopedia. 
Several  English  princesses  were  nuns  of  the  Trinite,  among 
them  the  daughters  of  Henry  III  and  Edward  I.  In  a  later 
century  Charlotte  Corday  was  a  pupil  of  the  convent. 

It  has  been  thought  that  Gundulf,  a  monk  of  Bee,  called 
to  Caen  by  Lanfranc,  was  architect  of  the  Abbaye-aux-Dames, 
where  his  mother  had  retired  as  a  nun.  This  learned  and 
pious  man  had  entered  Bee  in  the  same  year  as  St.  Anselm, 
and  when  he  had  become  the  bishop  of  Rochester  he  remained 
faithful  to  Anselm,  then  the  primate  of  England,  facing  bitter 
troubles  with  the  king.  The  saint  came  to  attend  the  good 
bishop  on  his  deathbed.  Gundulf  rebuilt  Rochester  Cathe- 
dral, whose  crypt  and  western  bays  are  of  his  time  (1076- 
1108);  Rochester  Tower,  too,  he  raised,  and  the  chapel  of 

485 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

St.  John  in  London  Tower.     It  was  said  of  him  that  he  was 
the  most  skilled  of  all  men  in  masoncraft. 

The  apse  of  the  Trinite  is  considered  one  of  the  best  things 
in  Caen.  It  stands  over  a  crypt  whose  sixteen  piers  are  in 
four  rows.  When  the  choir  was  renovated,  after  1100,  some 
of  its  sculptures  were  modeled  on  certain  Byzantine  ivories 
that  had  been  brought  as  gifts  to  Abbess  Cecile  by  her  cru- 
sading brother.  The  abbatial's  triforium  is  a  blind  arcade 
behind  whose  wall  was  essayed  some  very  primitive  flying 
buttresses.  The  present  sexpartite  vault  was  an  early  trial 
of  that  Norman  form  of  the  Gothic  masonry  roof,  and  is 
really  a  quadripartite  vault  divided  by  a  transverse  rib,  the 
web  being  unwarped  to  that  intermediate  member.  Though 
the  XII  century  replaced  the  original  timber  roof  of  the 
Trinite  by  this  sexpartite  one,  exactly  when  it  was  done  is 
not  known.  But  those  interested  in  claiming  priority  for 
Normandy  in  the  use  of  diagonal  ribs  place  it  before  the  sex- 
partite  vaulting  of  St.  Denis.  The  XIII  century  added  a 
handsome  Gothic  chapel  to  the  transept  of  Matilda's  convent 
church. 

As  the  expiatory  abbatial  erected  by  the  Conqueror  was 
on  a  far  larger  scale  than  the  Abbaye-aux-Dames,  it  took 
longer  to  build;  perhaps  the  same  Gundulf  of  Bee  and 
Rochester  was  its  architect.  Over  the  aisles  are  deep  trib- 
unes, some  of  whose  bays  have  retained  their  primitive  vaults 
of  the  same  type  as  those  at  Tournus  in  Burgundy — half 
barrels  placed  side  by  side  on  lintels  at  right  angles  to  the 
axis  of  the  church.  The  original  roof  of  the  principal  span 
was  replaced  by  the  actual  sexpartite  vault  (whose  web  is 
warped  to  the  six  branches)  about  1130,  said  M.  Regnier; 
other  archaeologists  have  placed  it  a  generation  later.  By 
the  addition  of  a  sexpartite  vaulting  the  much-discussed 
Lombard  alternate  piers  were  no  longer  inconsequent.  The 
height  to  which  the  wall  shafts  of  the  nave  are  carried  indi- 
cates that  the  cowled  architect  had  not  purposed  originally 
to  cover  his  main  span  with  a  stone  roof.  When  the 
Gothic  vaulting  was  added  the  clearstory  was  changed  in 

486 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

the  interior  of  the  church,  but  the  exterior  was  left  as  first 
built. 

William  and  Matilda  made  Caen  their  chief  residence  in 
Normandy,  and  Lanfranc  was  brought  from  Bee  in  1063  to 
be  prior  of  the  duke's  new  monastery.  He  opened  a  school 
in  Caen  to  which  his  pupil,  Pope  Alexander  II,  sent  his  rela- 
tives as  scholars.  In  the  peaceful  cloister  of  St.  Etienne  the 
able  Italian  composed  a  treatise — to  counteract  Berengar's 
heresy  on  the  Eucharist — which  is  considered  a  small  mas- 
terpiece of  Christian  controversy.  Lanfranc  was  dialectician, 
administrator,  builder,  subtle  lawyer,  and  statesman.  His 
genius  reached  its  highest  development  in  the  organization 
of  a  Norman  hierarchy  for  England.  He  rebuilt  his  own 
church  at  Canterbury,  and  two  former  monks  of  St.  Etienne, 
Caen,  rebuilt  the  cathedral  of  Winchester  and  St.  Alban's 
abbey.  Other  memorials  of  Lanfranc's  primacy  in  England 
are  the  crypt  and  eastern  end  of  Gloucester  Cathedral,  the 
work  of  a  monk  of  Mont-Saint-Michel,  the  crypt  at  Worcester, 
choir  chapels  and  ambulatory  at  Norwich,  and  the  western 
transept  of  Ely  Cathedral,  erected  by  a  monk  from  St.  Ouen, 
Rouen.  It  is  said  that  during  the  century  and  a  half  from 
the  Conqueror  to  John  Lackland  the  Norman  prelates  in 
England  erected  over  four  hundred  churches  as  expiatory 
offerings  for  the  grievous  wrong  perpetrated  in  the  Norman 
conquest. 

In  Caen,  Lanfranc  built  the  nave  of  the  Abbaye-aux- 
Hommes,  a  monument  of  magnificent  proportions,  compact, 
tranquil,  and  sincere.  When  archbishop  of  Canterbury  he 
returned  to  Caen  in  1077  for  the  dedication  of  his  abbey 
church.  Another  ten  years  and  in  St.  Etienne's  choir  took 
place  the  sinister  burial  of  William  the  Conqueror.  In  the 
town  was  raging  a  fierce  conflagration  which  was  to  wipe 
out  half  the  place.  As  they  lowered  into  the  tomb  the  proud 
and  wrathful  overman  whose  strength  had  been  so  pitiless, 
whose  will  so  inflexible,  a  poor  townsman  stepped  forth  to 
forbid  the  burial,  claiming  he  had  been  robbed  of  that  special 
parcel  of  land.  In  the  disorders  that  ensued  the  corpulent 

487 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

body  of  the  dead  king  was  injured,  and  though  incense  was 
burned  to  purify  the  infected  air,  the  people  deserted  the 
church  in  horror.  Sic  pulvis  es. 

In  1210  the  Romanesque  choir  of  the  Abbaye-aux-Hommes 
was  replaced  by  the  present  Gothic  one.  Normandy  appar- 
ently used  annulets  about  the  clustered  shafts  at  a  much 
later  date  than  the  Ile-de-France,  and  it  continued  to  employ 
its  pre-Gothic  zigzag  decoration.  The  chapels  round  the 
choir  were  made  to  open  one  on  the  other  above  low  dividing 
walls;  Bayeux  and  Coutances  repeated  this,  as  they  did 
the  turrets  at  the  birth  of  the  apse.  The  exterior  aspect  of 
the  edifice  was  enhanced  by  a  row  of  small  rose  windows 
each  of  which  lighted  a  bay  of  the  choir's  tribune.  A  generation 
later  the  same  arrangement  was  employed  in  the  collegiate 
church  at  Mantes. 

The  new  Gothic  choir  of  St.  Etienne  at  Caen  was  joined 
with  skill  to  Lanfranc's  grave  Romanesque  nave.  Maitre 
Guillaume  is  cited  as  architect  of  the  new  works,  and  he 
probably  crowned  the  two  western  towers  that  so  grandly 
dominate  the  city.  Few  architectural  views  in  France  sur- 
pass the  stark  majesty  of  the  fortresslike  church  built  by 
the  Conqueror,  as  it  appears  from  across  the  town,  from  the 
rue  des  Chanoines,  when  one  stands  near  the  convent  church 
of  Queen  Matilda.  St.  Etienne's  towers  were  the  prototypes 
for  the  other  notable  ones  at  Caen. 

During  the  XVI-century  religious  wars  the  Abbaye-aux- 
Hommes  was  twice  pillaged  and  the  Calvinists  scattered 
the  Conqueror's  ashes.  They  stripped  the  roofing  of  its 
lead,  which  soon  caused  the  collapse  of  the  central  lantern 
and  the  choir  vaults.  During  two  generations  the  great 
church  lay  unused  save  as  a  stone  quarry.  Then  the  prior, 
Jean  de  Baillehache,  in  1609,  undertook  a  restoration,  carried 
through  so  judiciously  that  were  it  not  for  the  monastery's 
official  record,  and  a  slight  poverty  in  the  sculpture,  it  would 
be  impossible  to  detect  the  new  parts  from  the  old. 

For  the  making  of  towers  Caen  is  a  queen  city.  In  descend- 
ing the  rue  des  Chanoines  one  passes  the  church  of  St.  Pierre, 

488 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

whose  much-admired  Renaissance  apse  (1518-45)  was  the 
work  of  a  regional  master,  Hector  Sohier.  But  it  is  the  tower 
of  St.  Pierre  which  is  its  glory  and  the  boast  of  Normandy. 
It  served  as  model  for  belfries  throughout  the  duchy  and  in 
Brittany.  Built  from  1308  to  1317,  it  stands  as  proof  that 
the  tradition  of  Apogee  Gothic  continued  till  the  opening  of 
the  Hundred  Years'  War.  Apart  from  the  natural  rise  and 
fall  of  things  human  various  causes  contributed  to  the  decline 
of  Gothic  art  after  the  XIII  century.  A  soulless  mechanical 
dexterity  that  crystallized  the  principles  of  Gothic  architec- 
ture succeeded  to  the  creative  genius  that  had  made  glorious 
the  reigns  of  Philippe-Auguste  and  Louis  IX.  Symbolism 
and  true  mysticism  gave  place  to  doubt,  and — when  internal 
dissensions  and  foreign  invasion  rent  the  land — to  supersti- 
tion. With  the  blurring  of  spiritual  vision  passed  the  vigor 
of  construction. 

The  XIV  century  in  France  opened  under  a  king  who 
debased  the  coinage,  overtaxed  the  clergy,  persecuted  the 
Jews,  and  who,  by  the  outrage  of  Anagni,  struck  a  fatal  blow 
at  the  prestige  of  the  papacy.  Soon  followed  the  Black 
Death,  when  a  third  of  Europe's  population  perished.  Rad- 
ical deterioration  of  the  national  art  set  in  after  France  "  went 
to  pieces  at  the  Battle  of  Crecy"  (1346).  The  royal  domain 
was  a  field  of  brigandage:  "From  the  Loire  to  the  Seine,  and 
from  the  Seine  to  the  Somme,  the  peasants  being  killed,  all 
the  fields  lay  uncultivated,  and  this  during  many  years," 
wrote  Bishop  Berenger  of  Le  Mans.  In  Paris  Cathedral  a 
foreigner  was  crowned  king  of  France. 

What  horrors  reigned  in  Normandy,  many  an  old  record 
relates.  More  than  a  thousand  patriot  leaders  perished 
when  English  gold  was  given  for  each  decapitated  corpse. 
"Houses  are  without  occupants,  fields  without  workers," 
wrote  a  XV-century  bishop  of  Lisieux.  Bedford's  troops 
pillaged  and  massacred.  Near  Falaise  twelve  thousand 
civilians  were  butchered  in  one  day.  "The  land  of  Nor- 
mandy was  grievously  oppressed  and  le  pauvre  penple  detruit," 
wrote  Monstrelet.  "Men  and  women  fled  for  their  lives, 

489 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

by  land  and  by  sea,  as  if  in  peril  of  fire.  Nobles  gave  up 
their  fiefs,  clerks  their  benefices,  burghers  their  patrimony, 
rather  than  take  oath  to  the  invader."1  Normannia  nutrix 
lay  almost  uninhabited. 

Such  is  the  French  version.  Naturally  the  English  outlook 
was  different.  "The  false  Frenchman,"  sings  Dray  ton  in 
his  Agincourt  ballad.  Freeman  falls  into  a  vein  of  self- 
congratulation.  "Go  from  France  proper  into  Normandy," 
he  writes,  "and  you  at  once  feel  that  everything  is  palpably 
better;  men,  women,  horses,  cows,  all  are  on  a  grander,  better 
scale.  The  good  seed  planted  by  the  old  Saxon  and  Danish 
colonists,  and  watered  in  aftertimes  by  Henry  V  and  John, 
Duke  of  Bedford,  is  still  there.  It  is  not  altogether  choked 
by  the  tares  of  Paris." 

Gothic  art  deteriorated,  but  so  persistently  lingered  the 
simplicity,  the  spiritual  poignancy  of  the  XIII  century  that 
in  the  late-Gothic  day  it  was  still  possible  to  produce  the 
mystic  loveliness  of  Riom's  Madonna  of  the  Bird,  and  the 
humble  prayerfulness  of  Solesmes'  Magdalene. 

In  the  unspoiled  years  of  the  XIV  century  was  built  the 
tower  of  St.  Pierre,  at  Caen.  Its  shaft  rises  in  a  virile,  un- 
broken ascent  from  soil  to  spire  tip.  On  the  busiest  street 
corner  of  the  city  it  stands  like  a  perpetual  call  to  recollection 
and  joy.  The  Norman  will  boast  with  legitimate  pride  that 
it  is  the  most  beautiful  tower  in  France,  excelling  those  of 
Chartres  and  Senlis,  whose  shafts,  he  will  tell  you,  are  either 
too  high  or  too  short,  whereas  his  loved  tower  of  St.  Pierre 
has  spire  and  shaft  in  perfect  accord.  When  Caen  added 
this  stately  monument  to  its  wealth  of  churches  it  was  as 


1  An  old  chronicle  related  how  the  young  widow  of  the  lord  of  La  Roche-Guyon 
"mieux  aimer  s'en  oiler  denuee  de  tons  bien,  avec  ses  trois  enfants,  que  de  rendre  hommage 
au  roi  d'outre  mer  et  de  se  mettre  es  mains  des  anciens  ennemies  du  royaume."  Anthyme 
Saint-Paul,  L' architecture  Jranqaise  et  la  Guerre  de  Cent  Ans  (Paris,  1910) ;  Simeon 
Luce,  La  France  pendant  la  Guerre  de  Cent  Ans  (Paris,  Hachette,  1893);  H.  Denifle, 
La  desolation  des  eglises,  monasteres,  et  hopitaux  en  France  pendant  la  Guerre  de  Cent 
Ans  (Paris,  Picard,  1899);  H.  Martin,  La  guerre  au  XVe  siecle  (Paris,  H.  Laurens); 
G.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "Episodes  de  1'invasion  anglaise.  La  guerre  de  partisans  dans 
la  Haute-Normandie"  (1424-29),  in  Bibliotheque  de  VEcole  des  chartes,  1893  to  1895, 
vols.  54,  55,  56. 

490 


Belfry  of  St.  Pierre  at  Caen   (1308-1317).     Prototype 
for  the  Gothic  Towers  of  Normandy  and  Brittany 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

rich  a  metropolis  as  Rouen,  and  it  had  contributed  more  than 
London  toward  the  ransom  of  Richard  Creur-de-Lion  from 
Teuton  captivity.  Just  before  the  defeat  of  Crecy,  this,  the 
intellectual  capital  of  Normandy,  was  besieged  by  English 
troops,  and  all  its  wealth  pillaged,  and  its  streets  strewn  with 
dead.  Amid  havoc  wrought,  the  towers  of  the  Abbaye-aux- 
Dames  were  destroyed. 

All  over  the  department  of  Calvados  are  towers.1  A 
Romanesque  one  crowns  the  church  of  Vaucelles,  a  suburb 
of  Caen.  At  Ifs,  and  near  Bayeux,  at  St.  Loup  (c.  1180), 
are  others.  The  monk's  church  of  Norrey,  a  dependency  of 
St.  Ouen,  at  Rouen,  noted  for  the  lavishness  of  its  foliate 
ornamentation,  has  a  tower  of  the  XIII  century,  and  near  it, 
also  ten  miles  from  Caen,  is  Secqueville's  Gothic  beacon. 
There  are  belfries  at  Bernieres-sur-mer  (c.  1150),  at  Langrune, 
Thaon,  Tour,  and  Basly. 

Three  of  the  most  beautiful  towers  in  Calvados  crown  the 
abbatial  of  St.  Pierre-sur-Dives,  an  edifice,  too  much  a  patch- 
work of  five  centuries  to  be  altogether  pleasing,  but  linked 
with  a  memorable  hour  of  the  Gothic  story,  1145.  Popular 
enthusiasm  then  aided  Abbot  Haimon  to  reconstruct  his 
church,  as  he  wrote,  in  a  much-quoted  letter  to  the  English 
monks  at  Tutbury.  The  same  wave  of  fervor  was  raising 
the  Primary  Gothic  towers  of  Chartres  and  Rouen.  The 
western  towers  of  St.  Pierre-sur-Dives  are  of  Haimon's  day 
only  in  their  lower  stories;  that  to  the  south  has  a  XIII- 
century  top,  and  that  to  the  north  was  finished  in  the  XIV 
century.2 

A.  de  Caumont,  "Les  tours  d'eglises  dans  le  Calvados,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental, 
1847,  vol.  23,  p.  362;  E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "Les  clochers  du  Calvados,"  in  CongresArche- 
ologique,  1908,  vol.  2,  p.  652;  G.  Bouet,  "Clochers  du  diocese  de  Bayeux,"  in  Bulletin 
Monumental,  1872,  vol.  38,  p.  517;  Abbe  Edeline,  Norrey  et  son  histoire;  La  Normandie 
monumentale  et  pittoresque.  Calvados,  p.  231,  "Norrey,"  G.  Lavalley;  p.  349,  "Secque- 
ville";  Congres  Archeologique,  1908,  p.  193,  "Bernieres";  p.  338,  "Norrey";  p.  349, 
"Secqueville." 

2  In  the  abbatial  of  St.  Pierre-sur-Dives  there  is  Xll-century  work  in  the  ambulatory 
walls,  in  the  piers  and  side  walls  of  the  nave,  and  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  facade 
towers.  To  the  XIII  century  belong  most  of  the  choir's  piers  and  the  apsidal  chapels, 
also  the  beautiful  chapter  house.  The  transept  then  was  put  into  harmony  with  the 
nave,  and  its  tower  built,  which  latter  now  is  braced  by  clumsy  obstructions  within 

491 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Throughout  the  final  phase  of  Gothic,  Normandy  contin- 
ued to  excel  in  towers.  Witness  Rouen's  Flamboyant  beacons. 
In  quiet  country  places  and  lesser  towns  rise  belfries  as  stately 
as  those  of  cathedrals:  at  Carville  is  the  "Giant  of  the  Valley" 
(1512-14),  at  Harfleur  is  a  most  beautiful  tower,  and  still 
another  at  Verneuil  (1506-30),  built  by  a  son  of  the  town, 
Arthur  Fillon,  cure  of  St.  Maclou,  Rouen,  and  vicar-general 
of  that  lover  of  noble  structures,  Cardinal  Georges  d'Amboise; 
when  he  became  bishop  of  Senlis,  he  helped  to  finish  the 
Flamboyant  Gothic  transept  of  that  cathedral. 

THE   ROMANESQUE  ABBATIAL  OF  ST.   GEORGES 
DE   BOSCHERVILLE  l 

I  have  borne  for  forty-two  years  with  happiness  the  sweet  yoke  of  the 
Lord. — ORDEBICUS  VITALIS  (xii  century). 

From  Rouen  a  pleasant  six-mile  walk  through  the  forest 
of  Roumare  leads  to  the  abbatial  of  St.  Georges  de  Boscher- 
ville,  an  example  of  the  best  Anglo-Norman  Romanesque. 
Some  have  thought  it  belongs  to  the  first  decade  of  the  XII 
century,  but  M.  Besnard  places  it  a  generation  earlier.  Mr. 
John  Bilson  claims  that,  like  its  contemporary,  the  cathedral 
at  Durham,  the  piers  show  that  from  the  start  the  design 
was  to  construct  ribbed  groin  vaults  over  the  wide  span,  and 
he  thinks  that  the  same  is  true  for  the  now  disused  Roman- 


the  church.  In  the  XIV  century  rose  the  west  fagade,  and  the  north  tower  was  re- 
built. The  XV  century  rehandled  the  high  vaulting  and  clearstory,  where  appear 
die-away  moldings  and  flamelike  tracery.  The  abbey  was  founded  by  Richard  II 
(d.  1020)  and  his  beautiful  duchess,  Judith  of  Brittany.  Its  Romanesque  abbatial 
was  dedicated  in  1067  by  Archbishop  Maurille  in  the  presence  of  the  Conqueror  and 
Matilda.  In  1107  the  abbatial  was  burned  by  Henry  I  of  England,  who  accused  the 
abbot  of  siding  with  his  elder  brother,  with  whom  he  was  at  war,  but  in  atonement 
the  king  contributed  toward  the  reconstruction  of  the  church;  Congres  Archeologique, 
1861,  1862,  and  1908,  p.  278;  J.  Pepin,  Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives  (Caen,  1879);  Abbe 
Denis,  figlise  de  Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives  en  1145  (Caen,  1869);  Bibliotheque  de  I' Scale 
des  diaries,  vol.  21,  p.  120,  gives  Abbot  Haimon's  letter,  which  also  was -published  in 
Rouen,  1851,  by  L.  de  Glanville. 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1908;  A.  Besnard,  Monographic  de  I'eglise  et  de  Vabbaye 
Saint  Georges  de  Boscherville  (Paris,  Lechevailier,  1899);  J.  A.  Deville,  Essai  historique 
et  descriptive  sur  I'eglise  et  Vabbaye  de  St.  Georges  de  Boscherville  (Rouen,  1827);  La 
Normandie  monumentale  et  pittoresque.  Seine-Inferieure,  p.  235,  Abbe  A.  Tougard. 

492 


GOTHIC   ART  IN  NORMANDY 

esque  abbatial  of  St.  Nicolas,  at  Caen  (1083-93),  building 
twenty  years  before  Durham's  choir.  He  has  cited  the 
diagonals  of  Lessay's  choir  and  those  of  the  transept  of  Mont- 
villiers  as  the  primitive  Gothic  of  Normandy,  vaults  which 
M.  de  Lasteyrie  considered  to  be  contemporary  with  Suger's 
St.  Denis.  The  German  archaeologists,  Dehio  and  von  Bezold, 
give  priority  to  Normandy. 

The  actual  intersecting  ribs  at  St.  Georges  de  Boscherville 
are  a  XI.TI-century  reconstruction.  So  solid  were  the  church 
walls  made  that  no  flyir  "mttresses  have  been  needed.  The 
tribune  at  the  end  of  each  arm  of  the  transept  is  supported 
by  an  isolated  pillar,  apsidal  chapels  project  from  the  eastern 
wall  of  the  transept,  and  the  central  lantern  is  one  of  the  best 
in  Normandy.  The  entire  church,  save  its  west  fagade 
flanked  by  slender  turrets,  was  the  work  of  some  six  or  seven 
years  only.  About  1157,  under  Abbot  Victor,  was  erected 
the  chapter  house  that  nestles  beneath  the  transept's  northern 
arm.  The  French  students  who  did  not  know,  or  who  have 
not  accepted,  Mr.  John  Bilson's  theory  of  Anglo-Norman 
priority  in  the  use  of  the  essential  organ  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, have  claimed  that  the  diagonals  of  St.  Georges' 
chapter  house  are  among  the  earliest  extant  of  the  province, 
of  the  same  decade  as  the  vaulting  of  the  lower  hall  of  St. 
Romain's  tower  at  Rouen.  Mr.  John  Bilson's  championship 
of  Anglo-Norman  pioneer  work,  and  Mr.  Arthur  Kingsley 
Porter's  theory  of  Lombard  priority,  have  both  found  sup- 
porters among  leading  French  archaeologists;  the  English 
scholar  is  patriotically  disgruntled  at  the  American's  advocacy 
of  the  Italian  claims. 

It  would  seem  that  during  the  XI  century  the  Normans, 
like  the  Lombards,  used  what  Mr.  Bilson  calls  ribbed  groined 
vaults,  occasionally,  for  one  reason  or  another.  The  Norman 
developed  tentatively  the  ribbed  vault,  always  associating 
it  with  the  semicircular  arch,  and  without  comprehending 
the  wonderful  results  that  were  to  be  derived  from  concen- 
trating the  weight  of  a  masonry  roof  at  fixed  points.  The 
possibility  of  those  results  was  perceived  first  in  the  Ile-de- 

493 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

France,  and  from  there,  when  Gothic  architecture  had  taken 
on  its  special  characteristics,  it  entered  Normandy  by  way 
of  the  Seine  at  Rouen  and  Boscherville,  then  at  Fecamp 
and  Lisieux.  The  first  Gothic  cathedrals  of  Normandy  show 
purely  French  influence  and  only  gradually  were  regional 
ogival  traits  developed.  In  the  controversy  as  to  who  first 
used  diagonals,  one  can  take  whichever  side  one  prefers;  the 
question  remains  open.  Light  will  be  thrown  on  it,  doubtless, 
by  a  forthcoming  paper  by  Mr.  Bilson  in  the  Archeological 
Journal,  tracing  the  evolution  oftg1  b  ^.gonal  rib  in  Normandy. 
The  abbey  at  Boscherville  was  founded  by  the  lord  of 
Tankerville,  high  chamberlain  of  the  Conqueror  and  Henry  I. 
In  its  abbatial,  when  his  grandson,  hereditary  constable  of 
Normandy,  was  knighted,  he  laid  his  sword  on  the  altar, 
and  to  redeem  it  presented  property  to  the  monastery.  If 
we  would  comprehend  the  society  that  built  these  churches, 
we  must  understand  that  such  donations  were  voluntary  and 
a  matter  of  civic  pride.  "If  I  cannot  myself  attend  to  the 
works  of  God,"  runs  an  ancient  deed  of  gift,  "at  least  I  can 
assure  a  home  for  those  with  whom  God  loves  to  dwell.  It 
is  only  natural  to  enrich  our  Holy  Mother  the  Church,  and 
thus  to  take  a  hand  in  caring  for  Christ's  poor." 

THE  GOTHIC  ABBATIAL  AT  FfiCAMP1 

It  is  a  usage  bequeathed  to  us  from  our  ancestors,  never  to  let  anyone 
depart  from  our  abbey  without  a  gift. 

— (From  an  old  Latin  chronicle  of  Fecamp.) 

If  one  would  enjoy,  without  critical  comparison,  the  Gothic 
of  Normandy,  her  churches  should  be  visited  before  the  taste 
has  become  sensitized  by  loiterings  in  the  Ile-de-France.  In 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1908;  Doctor  Coutan,  La  Trinite  de  Fecamp  (Caen,  1907). 
He  also  describes  the  Trinite  in  La  Normandie  monumentale  et  pittoresque.  Seine- 
Inferieure,  p.  465;  the  churches  at  Dieppe,  p.  279;  the  church  of  Harfleur,  p.  393; 
Le  Havre,  p.  381;  Carville,  p.  177,  and  Notre  Dame  at  Caudebec-en-Caux,  of  which 
Abbe  Sauvage  has  published  a  separate  monograph  (1876);  A.  Leport,  Description 
de  Veglise  de  la  Trinite  de  Fecamp  (Fecamp,  1879);  Leroux  de  Lincy,  Essai  historique 
sur  I'abbaye  de  Fecamp;  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France,  vol.  7,  p.  318,  "Le  bienheureux 
Guillaume,  abbe  de  St.  Benigne  de  Dijon"  (Paris,  1746);  vol.  10,  p.  265,  "Herbert 
Lozinga,  eveque  de  Norwich"  (Paris,  1756). 

494 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

that  classic  region  of  the  national  art  is  found  a  simplicity,  a 
purity,  a  restraint,  a  something  of  imaginative  genius  that 
makes  of  its  work  the  touchstone  by  which  all  other  mani- 
festations of  Gothic  are  judged.  Of  the  Norman  churches, 
the  Trinite,  at  Fecamp,  is  most  closely  related  to  the  Primary 
Gothic  work  of  the  royal  domain.  Its  architect  must  cer- 
tainly have  come  from  the  Ile-de-France.  Monks  trained 
in  the  Celtic  rule  by  St.  Wandrille  founded  Fecamp,  which 
was  wrecked  by  Norse  pirates  in  876.  William  Longsword, 
the  first  duke's  son,  built  his  palace  here,  and  his  son,  Richard 
I  the  Fearless  (d.  996),  began  a  new  monastery.  In  his  will 
Richard  ordered:  "Bury  not  my  body  within  the  church, 
but  deposit  it  on  the  outside,  immediately  under  the  eaves, 
that  the  dripping  of  the  rain  from  the  holy  roof  may  iwash 
my  bones  as  I  lie  and  may  cleanse  them  of  the  spots  of  impurity 
contracted  during  a  negligent  and  neglected  life."  He  desired 
that  on  every  Friday  a  sarcophagus  be  filled  with  wheat  and 
grain  for  the  poor.  His  son,  Richard  II  the  Good  (d.  1020), 
finished  Fecamp  abbatial,  and  was  laid  to  rest  beside  his 
father.  The  dukes  of  Rollo's  line  especially  favored  Fecamp, 
which  held  a  front  rank  among  Normandy's  institutions, 
and  was  the  richest  of  her  monasteries  down  to  the  Revolu- 
tion. Henry  Plantagenet  presented  Fecamp  town  to  the 
monastery. 

After  Duke  Richard  the  Good  had  brought  that  man  of 
administrative  genius,  William  of  Volpiano,  into  his  duchy 
to  reorganize  its  spiritual  life,  architectural  activities  took 
on  new  vigor.  William  himself  directed  the  construction  of 
Bernay's  1  church;  the  abbatial  of  Mont-Saint-Michel  rose 


1  The  abbatial  of  Bernay  (Eure),  to-day  a  corn  exchange  on  the  market  place,  shows 
in  its  transept  the  earliest  instance  of  an  arcaded  wall  passage,  the  feature  that,  when 
placed  at  the  clearstory  level,  became  one  of  the  most  frequent  characteristics  of  Anglo- 
Norman  architecture,  both  Romanesque  and  Gothic.  Bernay  was  founded  between 
1013  and  1019  by  Richard  II  and  Judith  of  Brittany,  the  same  who  invited  to  their 
duchy  the  Lombard,  William  of  Volpiano.  William  is  known  to  have  worked  on  the 
Bernay  abbatial,  which  shows  resemblances  to  Burgundian  churches  at  Auxerre  and 
Nevers,  and  he  may  have  brought  to  Normandy  the  Lombard  trait  of  absidal  chapels 
projecting  from  the  eastern  wall  of  the  transept.  Bernay,  however,  did  not  use  the 
Lombard  alternance  of  ground  supports.  Mr.  Bilson  thinks  that  the  tall  attached 
32  495 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

when  he  reformed  that  house;  and  the  church  of  Jumieges 
followed  immediately  after  his  reformation  there.  The 
Blessed  William,  in  his  thirst  for  souls,  used  to  loiter  at  the 
crossroads  to  gather  in  the  stricken  of  body  or  spirit.  He 
passed  away  in  Fecamp  in  1031,  and  his  ashes  are  still  pre- 
served in  a  chapel  of  the  present  Gothic  abbatial.  In  1034, 
in  the  Romanesque  Trinite,  Robert  the  Magnificent  gathered 
the  chief  men  of  Normandy  to  have  them  swear  allegiance 
to  his  sturdy  little  bastard  son  of  seven,  who  was  to  be  known 
in  history  as  William  the  Conqueror,  after  which  Duke  Robert 
started  on  his  pilgrimage  to  the  East,  from  which  he  was  never 
to  return.  The  abbey  church  of  Fecamp  long  consisted  of 
the  nave  begun  by  Richard  I,  and  a  choir  built  by  Abbot 
Guillaume  de  Ros  (1082-1108),  under  whose  rule  the  Trinite 
won  the  admiration  of  Europe.  He  is  said  to  have  intro- 
duced into  Normandy  the  ambulatory  and  its  radiating 
chapels.  Two  of  the  radial  chapels  which  he  constructed 
at  Fecamp  have  survived.  While  they  were  building,  there 
lived  in  the  Trinite  convent,  as  prior,  Herbert  de  Lozinga, 
who,  obtaining  the  bishopric  of  Norwich,  erected  on  the 
Norfolk  downs  a  stately  Norman  cathedral  (1096-1119). 
Abbot  Guillaume  de  Ros  carried  out  the  instructions  of 
Richard  I  to  give  a  loaf  of  bread  to  every  beggar  asking  it, 
and  when  Fecamp  was  dissolved  at  the  Revolution  its  abbot 
was  distributing  daily  some  twelve  thousand  free  loaves  of 
bread. 

In  1169  fire  wrecked  the  Romanesque  Trinite,  whereupon 
the  present  Gothic  edifice  was  begun  immediately,  and  in  it 
two  of  the  groin-vaulted  chapels  from  the  choir  of  Guillaume 
de  Ros  were  incorporated.  Abbot  Henri  de  Soullay  (1139-87) 

stripes  were  intended  for  a  vaulted,  not  for  a  timber  roof.  The  nave's  side  walls  and 
piers  are  of  Abbot  William's  time;  two  bays  of  the  choir  belong  to  later  years  of  the 
XI  century.  William  the  Conqueror  is  said  to  have  finished  the  church.  It  was 
grievously  sacked  during  the  religious  wars.  The  church  of  Ste.  Croix  in  Bernay, 
begun,  1373,  enlarged  1497,  contains  tombs  from  Bee,  of  former  abbots  there.  Congres 
Archeologique,  1908,  vol.  2,  p.  588,  Chanoine  Poree;  Bulletin  Monumental,  1911,  vol. 
75,  p.  396,  Chanoine  Poree,  and  p.  403,  John  Bilson;  G.  T.  Rivoira,  Lombardic  Archi- 
tecture, translated  by  G.  Me.  N.  Rushford  (London  and  New  York,  1910);  Chanoine 
Poree,  Bernay  (Caen,  H.  Delesques,  1912). 

496 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

built  the  Primary  Gothic  choir,  transept,  and  half  of  the  nave. 
After  the  fifth  bay  of  the  nave  a  new  architect  took  up  the 
work,  as  is  shown  by  differences  in  the  pier  profiles,  but  the 
cessation  of  activities  must  have  been  of  short  duration,  as 
the  church  is  homogeneous.  The  nave  was  finished  under 
Abbot  Raoul  d'Argence  (1190-1220),  who  organized  Nor- 
mandy's first  literary  academy — a  confraternity  of  jongleurs. 
Its  character  was  more  Norman  than  the  choir,  though  regional 
traits  had  early  appeared  in  the  turrets  at  the  birth  of  the 
apse  and  the  square  central  lantern. 

To  increase  the  impression  of  length  in  the  nave  its  side 
walls  were  marked  by  double  the  number  of  arcades  that 
divide  the  middle  church  from  the  aisles.  This  was  accom- 
plished by  introducing  a  fifth  rib  into  each  vault  section  of 
those  side  corridors,  which  rib  fell  on  a  shaft  engaged  in  the 
side  walls.  Like  the  minsters  of  England,  Fecamp  is  more 
remarkable  in  its  length  than  in  its  height. 

Abbot  Thomas  de  Saint-Benoit  (1297-1307)  decided  to 
suppress  the  deep  gallery  over  the  choir's  ambulatory,  making 
the  chapels  that  open  on  the  curving  aisle  of  exceptional 
height.  He  changed  the  southern  aisle,  giving  it  a  coldly 
elegant  Rayonnant  aspect,  but  happily  not  that  to  the  north, 
or  we  would  have  lost  the  two  interesting  Romanesque  chapels 
of  Abbot  Guillaume  de  Ros.  Some  of  Fecamp's  later  abbots 
were  Clement  VI,  builder  of  the  palace  of  the  popes  at  Avignon 
and  of  the  Chaise  Dieu  in  the  mountains  of  Auvergne,  and 
an  abbot  of  the  patriotic  Estouteville  family,  who  was  driven 
out  by  the  English  when  Fecamp  was  besieged  in  1415.  The 
tool  who  succeeded  him  sat  in  judgment  on  Jeanne  d'Arc. 

The  abbot  of  Fecamp  during  the  transitional  Flamboyant 
Renaissance  day  was  Cardinal  Antoine  Boyer  (1492-1519), 
a  Maecenas  who  adorned  his  beautiful  church  with  Italian 
marbles.  He  had  sculptured,  in  the  same  studio  at  Genoa 
that  provided  Louis  XII  with  the  Orleans  tombs  for  St.  Denis, 
an  Entombment  more  spectacular  in  character  than  the  famous 
one  at  Solesmes.  Girolamo  Viscardo  made  for  him  a  taber- 
nacle (for  the  choir's  procession  path),  after  the  style  of  Mino 

497 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

da  Fiesole.  The  lovely  marble  screens  that  close  the  side 
chapels  are  due  to  this  generous  prelate.  For  him  Jacques 
Le  Roux,  the  noted  architect  of  Rouen,  lengthened  the  Lady 
chapel.  The  only  later  change  of  importance  in  the  Trinite 
was  the  erection  of  its  neo-classic  fagade. 

THE  GOTHIC  ABBATIAL  AT  EU1 

La  Nature  a  bien  des  manieres  de  sourire.  La  Normandie  est  le  plus 
beau  sourire  de  la  nature  tempered. — O.  RECLUS. 

The  tutelary  of  Eu  is  St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  archbishop  of 
Dublin,  son  of  a  prince  in  Leinster,  an  active  continuer  of 
the  reforms  begun  by  St.  Malachy  of  Armagh,  who  died  in 
St.  Bernard's  arms  at  Clairvaux.  St.  Laurence  had  crossed 
the  Channel  to  plead  with  Henry  Plantagenet  for  certain  of 
his  flock  in  disgrace  (1180).  Arriving  at  Eu's  convent,  then 
belonging  to  the  congregation  of  St.  Victor,  he  felt  a  premo- 
nition of  his  approaching  death,  and  exclaimed,  as  he  crossed 
the  threshold,  "Here  is  my  abode  of  rest  forever."  He  was 
worn  out  in  the  struggle  to  uphold  the  weak  against  the  strong 
in  those  difficult  years  of  the  Anglo-Norman  seizure  of  the 
eastern  coast  of  Ireland.  As  his  end  drew  near  a  monk  sug- 
gested that  he  make  his  testament.  "I  thank  God  that  I 
have  nothing  to  bequeath,"  he  said. 

So  impressive  was  the  death  of  Archbishop  Laurence  in 
Eu  monastery  that  the  little  people  of  the  Lord  soon  began 
to  pray  beside  his  tomb.  When  the  monks  reconstructed 
their  church  they  placed  the  saintly  man's  relics  in  the  new 
crypt.  From  1186  to  1226  the  choir,  transept,  and  one  bay 
of  the  nave  were  built  without  interruption,  in  a  Gothic  more 
of  the  Ile-de-France  than  regional,  though  the  placing  of 
towers  between  transept  and  choir  and  the  central  lantern 
followed  the  Norman  tradition. 

Archbishop  Laurence  O'Toole  was  canonized  in  1225,  and 
to  the  joyous  ceremony  when  his  relics  were  set  above  the 

1  Congres  ArchSologique,  189,5;  Abbe  A.  Legris,  L'eglise  d'Eu  (1913);  Desire  Le  Beuf, 
La  mile  d'Eu  (1884) ;  Doctor  Coutan,  in  La  Normandie  monumentale  et  pittoresque. 
Seine-Inferieure,  vol.  1,  p.  333;  Viollet-le-Duc,  Dictionnaire  de  I' architecture,  vol.  1,  p. 
198;  vol.  2,  p.  364;  vol.  5,  p.  359;  Gonse,  L'art  gothique,  p.  210  (Paris,  Quantin,  1891). 

498 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

high  altar  came  the  archbishop  of  Rouen — then  building 
his  cathedral,  and  Bishop  Geoffrey,  the  "shining  man  of  Eu 
by  whom  the  throne  of  Amiens  rose  into  immensity."  For 
eight  days  the  throng  pressed  to  pray  near  the  relics  of  the 
canonized  Irish  prelate,  and  with  the  gifts  that  poured  in 
the  monks  were  able  to  finish  their  nave  by  1230.  It  is  a 
gem  of  Norman  Gothic,  sober,  elegant,  of  perfect  unity.  The 
first  plan  called  for  tribunes  over  the  aisles,  as  in  the  choir. 
Before  they  were  constructed,  however,  the  idea  was  given  up, 
but  it  was  decided  to  keep  the  arches  by  which  the  tribunes  would 
have  opened  on  the  middle  church.  The  same  effect  of  false 
tribunes  had  been  used  earlier  in  the  nave  of  Rouen  Cathedral. 
In  1426  lightning  caused  the  collapse  of  the  central  tower, 
and  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  transept  and  choir,  under- 
taken after  the  invaders  were  driven  from  Normandy,  Flam- 
boyant work  was  set  side  by  side  with  Primary  Gothic.  From 
1511  to  1534  rose  the  transept's  florid  south  facade.  After 
the  Revolution  the  church  of  St.  Laurent  was  restored  by 
the  Orleans  family,  who  own  the  chateau  and  park  at  Eu. 

MONT-SAINT-MICHEL » 

Chaque  peuple  a  son  ange,  disait  Daniel  le  prophete.  Le  n6tre  ne  peut 
pas,  meme  indignes  nous  d61aisser.  .  .  .  Plus  encore  que  Saint  Jacques 
6tait  le  patron  des  espagnols,  Saint  Michel  voulut  etre  le  Baron  de  France. 
II  mit  les  trois  lys  dans  ses  armes  et  fit  passer  sur  le  royaume  I'e'clair  de 
son  glaive.  Avoir  suscite"  Jeanne  d'Arc  et  par  elle  libere"  la  France.  .  .  . 
Voil&  bien  le  plus  beau  miracle  du  a  1'archange.  II  constitue  pour  le  pays 
une  promesse  de  perennite". — JOSEPH  LOTTE  (born  in  Normandy,  1875; 
killed  in  the  World  War,  1914). 

1  Paul  Gout,  Le  Mont-Saint-Michel  (Paris,  Colin,  1910),  2  vols.;  Ch.  H.  Besnard, 
Mont-Saint-Michel  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1911); 
Ch.  de  Beaurepaire,  Curieuses  recherches  sur  le  Mont- Saint- Michel  (Rouen,  1873) ;  Ed. 
Corroyer,  Description  de  Vabbaye  du  Mont-Saint-Michel  et  de  ses  abords  (Paris,  1877); 
Dubouchet,  L'abbaye  de  Mont-Saint-Michel  (Paris,  1895) ;  Sir  Theodore  Andreas  Cook, 
Twenty-five  Great  Houses  of  France  (London  and  New  York,  1916),  chap.  1;  Henry 
Adams,  Ckartres  and  Mont- Saint- Michel  (Boston,  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1913); 
Leopold  Delisle,  ed.,  Cronique  de  Robert  de  Torigni  (Paris,  Soc.  de  1'histoire  de  Nor- 
mandie,  1872-75),  2  vols.  On  Robert  de  Torigny  see  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France, 
vol.  14,  p.  362  (Paris,  1817);  Simeon  Luce,  ed.,  Cronique  de  Mont-Saint-Michel:  la 
defence  nationale  (1879-86);  O.  de  Poli,  Les  defenseurs  du  Mont- Saint- Michel,  1417-50, 
(Paris,  1895);  Huynes,  Histoire  generale  de  Mont- Saint- Michel  (Rouen,  1872);  Brin, 
St.  Michel  et  le  Mont-Saint-Michel  dans  1'histoire  et  la  litterature  (Paris,  1880). 

499 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Surpassing  all  the  abbeys  of  Normandy  is  the  outpost  of 
the  archangel  that  lies  offshore,  at  the  junction  of  Normandy 
and  Brittany,  a  chonicle  mass  of  "rock  on  rock,  keep  on  keep, 
century  on  century,"  sand-locked  one  hour,  and  the  next 
rising  from  the  Atlantic.  Tremor  immensi  oceani  is  the  motto 
of  the  Mount.  Before  the  days  of  crusaders  it  was  one  of 
Europe's  chief  points  of  departure  for  the  Eastern  pilgrimage. 
Like  Jerusalem,  it  has  been  one  of  the  sites  of  the  earth  that 
has  impressed  itself  with  historic  signification  on  the  imagina- 
tion of  mankind. 

Many  have  felt  the  kindred  spirit  of  the  Chanson  de  Roland 
and  the  granite,  military  monastery.  They  are  both  of  the 
same  high  lineage.  To  the  paladin  Roland,  dying  at  Ronce- 
vaux,  as  he  held  up  his  right  glove  to  God,  his  suzerain,  there 
came,  to  fetch  his  soul  to  Paradise,  the  very  special  St.  Michael 
of  the  Mount  that  stood  in  peril  of  the  sea,  in  periculo  maris.1 

1  From  the  Chanson  de  Roland,  edition  Leon  Gautier  (Tours,  Mame  et  fils,  1895). 

"  Li  quens  Rollanz  se  jut  desuz  un  pin; 
Envers  Espaigne  en  ad  turnet  sun  vis. 
De  plusurs  choses  a  remembrer  li  prist; 
De  toutes  teres  que  li  bers  ad  cunquis, 
De  dulce  France,  des  humes  de  sun  lign, 
De  Carlemagne,  sun  seignur,  ki  1'nurrit, 
Ne  poet  muer  n'en  plurt  e  ne  suspirt. 
Mais  lui  mei'sme  ne  voelt  metre  en  ubli; 
Cleimet  sa  culpe,  si  priet  Deu  mercit: 
'  Viere  paterne,  ki  unkes  ne  mentis, 
Seit  Lazarin  de  mort  resurrexis 
E  Daniel  des  leuns  quaresis, 
Guaris  de  mei  1'aume  de  tuz  perilz 
Pur  les  pecchiez  que  en  ma  vie  fis!' 
Sun  destre  gant  a  Deu  en  puroffrit, 
E  de  sa  main  seinz  Gabriel  Tad  pris. 
Desur  sun  braz  teneit  le  chef  enclin: 
Juintes  ses  mains  est  alez  a  sa  fin. 
Deus  li  tramist  sun  angle  cherubin, 
Seinz  Raphael,  seinz  Michiel  de  1'Peril, 
Ensemble  od  els  seinz  Gabriels  i  vint, 
L'aume  de  1'Cunte  portent  en  parei's." 

("  Roland  the  brave  lay  prone  beneath  a  pine, 
Toward  Spain  his  face  was  turned  as  conqueror, 
Of  many  things  came  back  the  memory  sharp, 
The  host  of  places  he  had  won  in  war, 
Thoughts  of  sweet  France  and  of  his  parentage, 
500 


The  Hall  of  the  Knights  at  Mont-Saint-Michel  (1203- 
1228).     Second  Story  of  the  Merveille 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

Scholars  think  that  the  most  virile,  the  most  heroic  of  the 
chansons  de  geste,  wherein  already  was  la  douce  France  loved 
beyond  the  regional  cradle,  was  composed  by  a  Norman  who 
lived  in  the  marches  within  the  cult  of  the  Angel  of  the  Peril.1 

Alas,  in  our  day  Mont-Saint-Michel-au-peril-de-la-Mer  is 
in  very  deadly  peril  of  the  land,  for  it  looks  as  if  the  covetous- 
ness  of  financiers  was  to  defraud  France  of  this  rock  of  glory 
"qui  s'emeut  et  s'acheve  en  priere"  Dikes  and  dams,  to 
reclaim  coast  lands,  will  before  long  cause  the  historic  crag 
to  rise  from  green  woods  as  it  did  some  geological  periods  ago. 

Citadel,  palace,  cloister,  church,  and  town,  the  Mount  is 
a  thing  of  romance  that  not  all  the  vulgarity  of  daily  tourist 
crowds  can  tarnish.  Charlemagne  himself  chose  its  tutelary 
archangel  for  the  national  patron  saint,  and  the  cowled  guard- 
ians here  were  in  truth  through  long  centuries  what  the  great 
emperor  called  monks:  "Knights  of  the  Church,  of  the 
willing  vassalage  and  chivalry  of  Christ." 

The  Northmen  destroyed  the  ancient  shrine.  Then  Richard 
the  Fearless,  grandson  of  the  pirate  Rollo,  placed  on  the  rock 
the  sons  of  St.  Benedict,  trained  at  St.  Wandrille.  Richard 
II,  in  1017,  came  to  the  Mount  to  ask  a  blessing  on  his  union 
with  Judith  of  Brittany,  whose  beauty  was  such  that  the  old 
chronicle  exclaimed  corpore  et  moribus  usque  ad  miraculum 

Of  Charlemagne,  his  lord,  who  nurtured  him; 
And  tears  and  sighs  rose  as  the  memories  surged. 
Nor  did  he  wish  his  own  self  to  forget. 
Demanding  grace  of  God,  he  told  his  sins: 
'  Our  Father  true,  who  never  yet  has  lied, 
Who  from  the  grave  raised  Blessed  Lazarus, 
Who  Daniel  saved  from  lions,  save  my  soul, 
Pardon  the  sins  that  I  have  stained  it  with!' 
Toward  God  he  held  his  right-hand  gauntlet  up, 
Archangel  Gabriel  took  it  from  his  hand. 
Then  on  his  arm  his  head  sank  slowly  down, 
Hands  clasped  in  prayer  his  spirit  passed  beyond. 
God  to  him  sent  his  angel  cherubim, 
Archguardian  Michael,  him  called  of  the  Peril, 
St.  Raphael  and  St.  Gabriel  with  him  came 
And  bore  the  Count's  soul  straight  to  Paradise.") 

1Leon  Gautier,  Lcs  epopees  frangaises  (Paris,  V.  Palme,  1878-94),  4  vols.;  Joseph 
Bedier,  Les  legends  epiqucs,  recherchcs  sur  la  formation  des  chansons  de  geste,  vol.  3, 
"La  legende  de  Roland  "  (Paris,  H.  Champion,  1908-13),  4  vols. 

501 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

elegantem.  The  duke's  marriage  gift  enabled  the  monks  to 
supplant  their  Carolingian  church  by  a  bigger  one.  The 
discarded  X-century  chapel  was  discovered  in  1909  by  M. 
Paul  Gout,  the  Mount's  latest  historian.  Until  1780  it  had 
been  used  as  Notre  Dame-sous-Terre,  but  during  the  building 
of  the  foundations  for  the  ugly  west  facade  of  the  upper  church 
it  was  walled  up. 

With  Richard  the  Good's  donation,  Abbot  Hildebert  II 
erected  his  new  church  on  the  very  summit  of  the  rock,  but 
as  there  was  not  sufficient  level  space,  he  built  out  from  the 
hillcrest  a  platform  of  masonry  to  support  the  nave.  From 
William  of  Volpiano's  school  at  Fecamp  came  skilled  journey- 
men. The  church  at  Mont-Saint-Michel  was  begun  in  1020, 
and  still  building  in  1057.  Abbot  Roger  I,  formerly  chaplain 
to  William  the  Conqueror,  erected  the  nave.  William  prayed 
at  the  Mount  before  undertaking  the  conquest  of  England, 
and  the  abbot  fitted  out  for  him  an  entire  fleet. 

In  1103  the  northern  wall  of  the  Romanesque  nave  collapsed 
one  night  as  the  monks  were  chanting  matins  in  the  choir. 
It  was  restored  immediately  in  the  same  style,  and  Abbot 
Roger  II  took  the  opportunity  to  reconstruct  the  monks' 
quarters.  Above  the  crypt  called  Aquilon  (c.  1112)  he  built 
a  cloister,  which  later  was  vaulted  with  diagonals,  and  over 
that  promenoir  was  made  a  dormitory  on  the  same  level  as 
the  church.  During  the  years  that  followed  the  Mount  was 
governed  by  a  man  of  genius,  Robert  de  Torigni  (1153-80), 
whose  chronicle  is  the  most  important  history  of  France  for 
that  epoch.  In  the  promenoir  he  entertained,  at  a  banquet 
in  1158,  his  sovereign,  Henry  II,  and  Alienor  of  Aquitaine. 
They  chose  him  as  godfather  for  their  daughter,  who,  later, 
as  queen  of  Castile,  built  the  convent  church  of  Las  Huelgas 
by  Burgos.  Abbot  Robert  was  a  pupil  of  Bee,  whose  higher 
standards  of  intellectual  life  he  brought  to  the  Mount,  where 
he  formed  a  library,  built  monks'  quarters,  and  added  western 
belfries  to  his  abbatial,  though  the  fagade  of  his  day  no  longer 
exists. 

As  the  XIII  century  opened,  Normandy  became  once  more 

502 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

a  part  of  the  royal  domain,  after  being  three  centuries  under 
dukes  of  its  own.  When  Rollo's  strong  breed  ended  in  the 
debased  John  Lackland,  the  northern  province  gladly  accepted 
Philippe-Auguste  as  ruler.  How  whole-heartedly,  how  unre- 
servedly French  it  became  it  was  to  prove  by  its  heroic  resist- 
ance to  the  English  invaders  during  the  Hundred  Years'  War.1 

In  the  frays  of  1203,  fire  had  spread  from  the  town  that 
hugged  the  rock's  edge,  to  the  monastic  buildings  on  the 
summit.  Philippe-Auguste,  always  wisely  conciliatory  toward 
new  subjects,  contributed  toward  the  restorations.  With 
the  gift  from  the  king  under  whom  most  of  the  Gothic  cathe- 
drals of  France  were  begun,  Abbot  Jourdan  (1191-1212) 
built  the  supreme  architectural  work  of  the  citadel,  what  is 
called  the  Merveille,  and  a  marvel  indeed  are  its  three  stories 
that  rise,  one  above  the  other,  hall  over  hall,  two  hundred 
feet  in  height  above  the  sea,  ridged  heavily  outside  by  stout 
buttresses  and  graced  within  by  pillars,  arches,  and  a  sky- 
gazing  cloister. 

From  the  brain  of  some  unknown  cowled  genius  sprang 
this  male  and  splendid  conception,  built  in  the  very  prime  of 
Gothic.  Who  else  but  one  enamored  of  meditation  would 
have  set  his  cloister  atop  of  his  monastery  under  the  open  sky, 
or  have  opened  on  that  courtyard  of  peace  a  monks'  refectory, 
where,  in  a  flooded  stillness  of  light,  the  brethren  could  sit 
pondering  as  they  listened  to  one  of  their  number  reading 
from  the  stone  lectern  the  book  which  is  the  spirit  of  Bernard 
of  Clairvaux  incarnate:  "Give  all  for  all;  seek  nothing;  call 
for  nothing  back.  Thou  shalt  be  free  in  heart  and  the  dark- 
ness shall  not  overwhelm  thee."  And  around  them  there 
spread  the  wide  horizon  of  the  sea  one  hour,  of  the  white 
ashes  of  sand  the  next. 

Pacing  the  lovely  skyward  cloister  one  has  time  to  brood 
on  life  and  death,  on  God  and  one's  own  soul;  it  refutes  a 

1  "  II  y  a  des  provinces  qui  ont  le  doit  de  se  dire  franchises  par  excellence.  ...  La 
Normandie  et  la  Picardie  sont  de  celles-la.  .  .  .  Elles  ont  apportes,  dans  le  cours  des 
siecles,  a  la  vieille  Ile-de-France,  leur  afnee,  le  concours  loyal  de  leur  bras,  de  leur 
courage,  de  leur  genie."— GABRIEL  HANOTAUX,  "  La  Normandie  dans  1'unite  franchise," 

in  Socieie  normande  de  geographic,  1900,  vol.  22. 

503 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

hundred  calumnies  against  monastic  life  just  by  being  what 
it  is.  Serious  men  enamored  of  voluntary  seclusion  carved 
it  unstintingly  and  set  its  columns  quaintly  in  triangular 
order.  Love  and  science  contrived  the  diffused,  soothing 
luminousness  of  the  brothers'  dining  hall.  The  present  gable 
windows  there  are  innovations.  Originally  when  one  entered 
one  could  discern  no  window,  and  yet  light  was  everywhere. 
The  side  walls,  that  from  the  door  appear  to  be  blind  arcades, 
are  in  reality  a  succession  of  narrow  panel  windows — thirty 
to  a  side — deeply  recessed  in  stone  embrasures  that  are  tri- 
angular in  shape,  because  they  serve  the  purpose  of  buttresses. 
To  have  carried  the  exterior  buttress  ridges  to  such  a  height 
as  is  this  refectory,  set  audaciously  up  in  the  sky  on  the  Mer- 
veille's  third  story,  would  have  been  an  awkward  procedure; 
so  the  nameless  monk-architect,  because  he  was  a  XIH-century 
man,  let  his  genius  lead  him,  and,  "master  of  the  living  stone" 
that  he  was,  contrived  a  supreme  beauty  of  decoration  out 
of  a  structural  necessity. 

The  Merveille  was  erected  under  a  succession  of  abbots, 
in  one  consecutive  radiant  effort,  from  1203  to  1228 — a  Titan's 
work.  Each  of  its  three  stories  is  divided  into  two  halls; 
on  the  ground  floor  are  the  almonry,  where  the  pilgrims  fed, 
and  a  groin- vaulted  cellery  or  storehouse;  the  top  story,  as 
we  have  seen,  consists  of  open  cloister  and  monks'  refectory; 
and  between  the  upper  and  lower  stories  are  two  of  the  most 
vigorous  halls  ever  built;  that  over  the  almonry  called  the 
Salle  des  Hotes  because  in  it  were  entertained  the  guests  of 
the  monastery,  and  that  to  the  west,  over  the  cellery,  acquir- 
ing the  name  Salle  des  Chevaliers,  from  the  Order  of  the 
Knights  of  St.  Michael,  whose  members  met  here.  The  latter 
is  divided  by  rows  of  stout  pillars,  and  served  as  the  common 
room  of  the  community,  where  the  tireless  scholar-scribes 
illuminated  missals  and  copied  manuscripts. 

The  charter  for  the  military  Order  of  the  Archangel,  founded 
in  1469  by  Louis  XI,  welded  the  name  of  St.  Michael,  whom 
every  good  Frenchman  knew  kept  a  specially  friendly  eye 
on  France,  with  that  of  Jeanne  the  Maid,  who  had  quitted 

504 


GOTHIC   ART  IN  NORMANDY 

Domremy-on-the-Meuse  because  the  voice  of  her  dear  arch- 
angel rang  insistent  in  her  ear:  Fille  De,  va!  Je  serai  a  ton 
ayde.  Va!  It  was  St.  Michael  who  first  roused  her  to  the 
sense  of  the  great  misery  there  was  in  the  kingdom  of  France, 
and  in  her  hour  of  victory  after  Orleans  she  spoke  of  going 
to  the  rescue  of  the  besieged  Mount  in  Normandy.  At  her 
trial  in  Rouen  she  dwelt  on  the  comfort  he  had  given  her.1 
He  appeared  to  her,  she  said,  in  the  guise  of  "un  tres  vrai 
prud'homme" — the  term  loved  of  St.  Louis,  who  once  told 
Joinville  that  to  be  prud'homme  meant  to  be  knight  in  heart, 
as  well  as  outward  bearing.  "I  believe  the  words  of  St. 
Michael  who  appeared  to  me,"  said  Jeanne,  at  her  trial,  "as 
firmly  as  I  believe  that  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  suffered  death 
and  passion  for  us.  And  what  leads  me  so  to  believe  is  the 
good  counsel,  comfort,  and  good  doctrine  St.  Michael  gave  me." 
On  the  completion  of  the  Merveille,  the  monks  continued 
building.  They  had  finished  the  officiality  hall  by  the  entrance 
gate  of  the  monastery  before  the  visit  of  St.  Louis  to  the 
Mount  in  1254,  when  he  came  to  return  thanks  for  his  safety 
during  his  late  crusade.  The  XIV  century  added  more 
defenses  till  the  rock  became  the  most  forceful  example  of 
mediaeval  military  architecture.  Strong  walls  were  needed 
during  its  siege  by  the  English  who  invaded  Normandy  under 
Henry  V.  The  Mount's  abbot,  Robert  Jollivet,  whose  name 
figures  among  the  well-paid  judges  at  Rouen  in  1431,  allied 
himself  with  the  victorious  foreigners  who  had  quickly  over- 
run the  province.  His  monks  repudiated  him,  led  by  their 
prior,  Jean  Gonault.  Defended  by  the  gallant  knight  Louis 
d'Estouteville,  they  endured  the  longest  siege  recorded  in 

1  The  court  at  Rouen  asked  Jeanne  at  the  fourth  interrogation,  February  27,  1431 : 
"  Whose  was  the  first  voice  you  heard  when  you  were  about  thirteen?"  Jeanne 
replied:  "  It  was  St.  Michael's.  I  saw  him  before  my  eyes;  he  was  not  alone,  but 
was  encircled  by  angels  of  heaven.  I  saw  him  with  my  bodily  eyes  as  clearly  as  I 
see  you.  When  they  left  me,  I  wept;  right  gladly  would  I  have  gone  with  them, 
that  is — my  soul."  At  the  seventh  interrogation,  March  15,  1431,  when  asked  how 
she  knew  it  was  St.  Michael,  Jeanne  replied :  "  Par  le  purler  et  le  langage  des  anges.  .  .  . 
He  told  me  I  was  a  good  child  and  that  God  would  aid  me,  and  to  come  to  the  aid  of 
the  king  of  France.  He  related  to  me  the  grand  pitie  qui  etait  au  royaume  de  France."- 
E.  O'REILLY,  Les  deux  proces  de  condamnation  et  la  sentence  de  rehabilitation  de  Jeanne 
d'Arc  (Paris,  Plon,  1868),  2  vols. 

505 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

history,  1415  to  1450,  when,  as  Jeanne  had  proclaimed,  the 
invaders  were  "boutSs  tons  hors  de  France."1 

In  1429,  during  the  memorable  siege,  the  Romanesque 
choir  of  Mont-Saint-Michel's  abbey  church  collapsed.  It 
was  impossible  then  to  rebuild  it;  they  had  even  to  sell  their 
altar  vessels  to  carry  on  the  defense.  When  Normandy  was 
again  a  part  of  France  the  erection  of  a  new  choir  was  under- 
taken by  the  abbot  of  the  Mount,  who  was  none  other  than 
the  distinguished  Cardinal  Guillaume  d'Estouteville,  the 
chief  agent  in  the  vindication  of  Jeanne  d' Arc's  memory. 
His  layman  brother  had  directed  the  defense  of  the  Mount 
during  many  years.  In  1450  were  laid  down  the  crypt's 
nineteen  mammoth  piers,  among  the  most  powerful  ever 
planted.  The  upper  church  reached  its  triforium  story  by 
1469,  the  year  when  Louis  XI  came  to  the  rock  to  establish 
his  new  Order  of  knighthood,  and  about  1513  the  choir  was 
completed.  Many  hold  it  to  be  superior  to  all  other  late- 
Gothic  works  in  France.  There  are  no  capitals,  the  moldings 
die  away  in  the  shafts,  the  triforium  is  glazed.  It  belongs 
to  the  fleeting  splendor  of  Flamboyant  art,  but  without 
capriciousness.  There  is  no  overexuberance,  no  virtuosity 
in  this  vigorous,  glad  memorial  of  the  nation's  reconquered 
freedom: 

Sainte  Jeanne  went  harvesting  in  France, 
And  oh!  what  found  she  there? 
The  brave  seed  of  her  scattering 

In  fruitage  everywhere. 
And  where  her  strong  and  tender  heart 

Was  broken  in  the  flame, 
She  found  the  very  heart  of  France 
Had  flowered  to  her  name.2 

Building  activities  at  the  embattled  abbey  ceased  after  the 
erection  of  its  beautiful  florid  choir.  The  evil  consequences 

^Le  proces  Jeanne  d'Arc,  eighth  interrogation,  March  17,  1431.  When  asked  by 
her  judges  if  God  hated  the  English,  Jeanne  replied:  "Of  the  love  or  the  hate  which 
God  has  for  the  English,  or  of  what  He  will  do  with  their  souls,  I  know  nothing.  But 
this  I  know:  that  they  one  and  all  will  be  driven  out  of  France,  except  those  who  here 
die,  and  that  God  will  send  victory  to  the  French  against  the  English." 

2  Marion  Couthouy  Smith,  "Sainte  Jeanne  of  France,"  in  The  Nation  (London,  1915. 

506 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

of  commendatory  abbots — those  named  by  royal  whim — 
bore  bitter  fruit  from  end  to  end  of  France  in  the  relaxed 
spiritual  life  of  the  monasteries.  The  XVII-century  re- 
formers of  the  Congregation  of  St.  Maur  found  the  Mount's 
abbot  to  be  a  princeling  of  Lorraine,  five  years  of  age.  Those 
scholarly  Benedictines  carried  on  excellent  research  work  in 
local  history,  but  to  their  neo-classic  generation  Gothic  art 
was  a  sealed  book. 

Deplorable  changes  went  on  during  three  hundred  years: 
an  apsidal  chapel  of  the  church  was  made  into  a  staircase, 
irregular  windows  were  opened  in  the  halls  of  the  Merveille, 
the  cloister  was  planted  as  a  garden,  to  the  deterioration  of 
the  lower  structures,  and  when,  in  1776,  fire  weakened  the 
abbatial,  its  three  westernmost  bays  were  demolished  and  the 
present  ugly  fagade  put  up.  After  the  Revolution  pillaged 
the  monastery  it  became  a  state  prison  called  Mont  Libre, 
and  so  continued  until  1863.  The  church  was  floored  midway 
to  serve  as  a  convicts'  hat  factory.  The  modern  restoration 
of  Mont-Saint-Michel  has  been,  like  that  which  saved  the 
palace  of  the  popes  at  Avignon,  a  truly  national  benefit. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  ROUEN  1 

One  can  say  that  nothing  great  ever  was  accomplished  in  the  Church 
without  women  bearing  a  part.  A  host  of  them  stood  among  the  martyrs 
in  the  amphitheater;  they  disputed  with  the  anchorites  the  possession 
of  the  desert.  Constantino  set  up  the  Labarum  on  the  Capitol,  and  St. 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1859  and  1868;  Abbe  Loisel  et  Jean  Lafond,  La  cathedrale 
de  Rouen  (Collection,  Petites  Monographies),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1913);  Loisel  et 
Alline,  La  cathedrale  de  Rouen  avant  Vincendie  de  1200  (Rouen,  Lecerf  fils,  1904); 
Louise  Pillion,  Les  portails  lateraux  de  la  cathedrale  de  Rouen  (Paris,  Picard  et  fils, 
1907);  A.  Deville,  Tombeaux  de  la  cathedrale  de  Rouen  (Paris,  Levy,  1881),  folio; 
Camille  Enlart,  Rouen  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  II.  Laurens,  1904); 
fimile  Lambin,  "  La  cathedrale  de  Rouen,"  in  Revue  de  I' art  chretien,  1900;  Abbe 
Julien  Loth,  La  cathedrale  de  Rouen  (1879). 

Other  descriptions  of  Rouen's  monuments  can  be  found  in  the  general  works  of 
Henri  Havard,  Andre  Michel,  Louis  Gonse,  fimile  Mule,  Paul  Vitry. 

Cheruel,  Histoire  de  Rouen  sous  la  domination  anglaine  au  XVe  siecle  (Rouen,  1840); 
A.  Fallue,  Histoire  de  Veglise  metropolitaine  et  du  diocese  de  Rouen  (Rouen,  1850),  4  vols.; 
Ch.  de  Beaurepaire,  Notes  historiques  et  archeol.  concernant  le  departcment  de  la  Seine- 
Inferieure  (Rouen,  Cagniard,  1888);  ibid.,  Dernicrea  melanges  historiques  et  archeol. 
Seine-Inferieure  (Rouen,  1909);  Cook,  The  Mory  of  Rouen  (London,  1899);  Perkins. 
The  Churches  of  Rouen  (London,  1900). 

507 


Helena  raised  the  True  Cross  on  the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  Clovis,  at 
Tolbiac,  invoked  the  God  of  Clotilda.  Monica's  tears  won  the  conversion 
of  Augustine.  Jerome  dedicated  the  Vulgate  to  the  piety  of  two  Roman 
ladies,  Paula  and  Eustochium.  The  first  lawmakers  of  monkish  life,  Basil 
and  Benedict,  were  seconded  by  their  sisters,  Macrina  and  Scholastica. 
The  Countess  Matilda  held  up  the  tottering  throne  of  Gregory  VII.  The 
wise  judgment  of  Queen  Blanche  dominated  the  reign  of  St.  Louis.  France 
was  saved  by  Jeanne  d'Arc.  Isabella  of  Castile  led  in  the  discovery  of 
the  New  World.  And  in  times  closer  to  our  own  we  see  St.  Teresa  mixing 
with  bishops,  doctors,  and  the  founders  of  Orders  by  which  the  reform  in 
Catholic  ranks  was  operated.  We  see  St.  Francis  de  Sales  cultivating  like 
a  rare  flower  the  soul  of  Madame  de  Chantal,  and  St.  Vincent  de  Paul 
passing  over  to  Louise  Marillac  the  most  admirable  of  his  designs,  the 
establishment  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity. — FREDERIC  OZANAM. 

So  much  for  the  abbey  churches  of  Normandy.  Many 
another  might  be  described,  but  with  six  Gothic  cathedrals 
to  consider,  one  must  refrain.  Of  the  six — Rouen,  Lisieux, 
Evreux,  Seez,  Bayeux,  and  Coutances — that  of  Rouen  shows 
the  earliest  Gothic  work  and  its  character  is  more  French 
than  Norman,  as  if  the  river,  flowing  down  from  Paris,  carried 
with  its  waters  the  characteristics  of  the  art  life  astir  on  the 
banks  of  the  Seine,  Oise,  Aisne,  and  Marne. 

The  least  local  of  Normandy's  cathedrals,  Our  Lady's 
church  at  Rouen,  has  a  magnetism  distinctly  its  own — from 
its  florid  romantic  west  front,  the  most  lavish  screen  ever  set 
up,  to  the  imposing  sentry  columns  that  guard  its  sanctuary. 
The  northwest  tower  is  Normandy's  best  Primary  Gothic, 
the  southwest  tower  the  supremest  belfry  that  sprang  up  to 
commemorate  the  freeing  of  France  from  foreign  yoke.  The 
fagades  of  the  transept  and  the  Lady  chapel  (whose  tombs 
mark  dates  in  the  art  history  of  France)  rank  with  perfect 
Rayonnant  work.  Its  storied  windows  are  among  the  richest 
ever  dight  by  mediaeval  guildsmen. 

Not  but  that  a  dozen  flaws  might  be  picked  in  the  metro- 
politan church  at  Rouen.  Were  it  to  be  strictly  ranked  among 
French  cathedrals,  it  could  not  be  placed  among  the  foremost. 
But  it  has  gone  on  embellishing  itself  century  after  century 
with  a  self-respect  so  sincere  that  few  care  to  dispute  its  claim 
to  stand  in  the  front  rank. 

On  a  first  visit  to  Rouen  many  an  amateur  prefers  the 

508 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

regularity  of  St.  Ouen's  abbatial,  which  in  size  equals  West- 
minster Abbey.1  St.  Ouen,  the  classic  of  Rayonnant  design, 
geometric  in  tracery,  accentuating  the  ascending  line,  coldly 
perfect  in  construction,  possessed  still  the  true  sursum  corda 
of  Gothic,  though  the  art  was  fast  crystallizing  into  formulas. 
The  capitals  were  lessened,  and  the  glazed  triforium  united 
to  the  clearstory  in  a  single  composition.  Made  of  fine- 
textured  gray  stone  St.  Ouen  is  a  stately  vessel,  but,  add  the 
critics,  "its  uniform  excellence  is  average."  Gothic  lore  has 
not  degenerated,  but  has  simply  gone  too  far  in  the  develop- 
ment of  its  principles,  says  the  mechanical  artistry  of  the 
last  built  of  the  great  monastic  churches  of  France,  planned 
before  the  tragedies  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War  had  petrified 
the  national  genius.2 

1  St.  Ouen  derived  its  name  from  the  bishop  who  succeeded  St.  Romanus  and 
governed  Rouen  for  forty  years  in  the  VII  century,  aiding  the  founders  of  Jumieges, 
Fecamp,  and  St.  Wandrille.     He  had  been  blessed  as  a  child  in  his  father's  cast.le  near 
Braine  by  a  passing  guest,  the  Irish  missionary,  St.  Columbanus,  and  he  loved  to 
trace  thence  his  vocation.     So  rich  grew  the  abbey  of  St.  Ouen  that  it  ruled  half  the 
city  as  temporal  lord.     In  the  XV  century  the  English  expelled  Abbot  Jean  Richard, 
a  builder  of  the  present  nave,  to  substitute  a  prelate  docile  to  themselves  who  sat  as 
judge  at  Jeanne's  trial.  But  the  pope  restored  Jean  Richard  in  1434,  and  he  lived  to 
entertain  Charles  VII  in  his  monastery  when  that  king  came  as  victor  to  Rouen  in 
1449.     Vacandard,  Vie  de  St.  Ouen  (Paris,  1902). 

2  To  a  Romanesque  abbatial  of  St.  Ouen,  burned  in  1136,  belonged  the  two-storied 
chapel  called  the  Chambre-aux-Clercs,  now  set  against  the  northern  limb  of  the  tran- 
sept.    In  1318  Abbot  Jean  Roussel,  called  Marc  d' Argent,  began  the  present  abbatial, 
making  its  choir  and  transept  in  twenty  years,  as  well  as  one  bay  of  the  nave.     After 
a  pause,  two  more  bays  were  finished  by  1390.     Another  cessation  of  work  came 
during  the  Hundred  Years'  War.     Alexander  Berneval  set  up  the  transept's  south  rose 
(1439),  made  the  pretty  southern  portal  (1441)  called  after  the  marmosets  decorating 
it;   his  son  put  up  the  north  rose.     Both  architects  repose  in  the  same  tomb  in  the 
church.     Many  hold  the  central  lantern  (c.  1490)  to  be  a  prime  success  of  Flamboyant 
art.     Flame  tracery  appeared  in  the  XV-century  windows,  but  the  Rayonnant  first 
plan  was  adhered  to  for  the  chief  lines,  so  that  the  church,  whose  building  extended 
over  two  centuries,  is  homogeneous.     The  abbatial  was  finished  under  Abbot  Bohier 
(1491-1515).     The  Huguenots  stripped  it  of  its  tombs,  and  lighted  bonfires  in  the 
church.     In  the  XIX  century  was  added  the  mediocre  west  facade. 

La  Normandie  monumentale  et  pittorcsque.  Scinc-Infcricurc,  p.  105,  "  St.  Ouen"; 
p.  129,  "  St.  Maclou";  H.  Havard,  ed.,  La  France  artistiquc  et  monumentale,  vol.  2,  p. 
79,  "  St.  Ouen,"  L.  de  Foucaud;  p.  85,  "  St.  Maclou";  Dom.  Pommeraye,  Histoire 
de  Vabbaye  royale  de  St.  Ouen  (Rouen,  166£),  folio;  Jules  Quicherat,  "  Documents 
inedits  sur  la  construction  de  St.  Ouen  de  Rouen,"  in  Biblio.  de.  rficnte  des  chartcs,  1852, 
vol.  3,  p.  454;  H.  de  la  Bunodiere,  Notice,  sur  Veglixe  St.  Ouen  dc  Rouen  (Paris,  1895); 
Camille  Enlart,  "  L'architecture  gothique  au  XIV  siecle,"  in  Histoire  de  I" Art  (ed., 
Andre  Michel),  vol.  2,  partie  2  (Paris,  Colin,  1914). 

509 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  cathedral  of  Normandy's  capital  is  not  uniform,  but 
its  excellence  surpasses  the  average.  It  is  not  homogeneous, 
its  proportions  are  not  absolutely  harmonious,  but  it  has 
profundity,  personal  character,  and  flashes  of  genius.  The 
better  it  is  known  the  deeper  grows  affection  for  it,  which  is 
not  the  case  with  St.  Ouen.  In  the  latter  one  feels  that  the 
cult  is  the  main  concern;  in  the  cathedral  there  is  piety  of 
heart. 

The  early  history  of  Sainte-Marie  at  Rouen  follows  the 
usual  course.  Norse  marauders  wrecked  the  ancient  cathe- 
dral. Rollo,  the  first  duke,  endowed  another  which  was 
radically  reconstructed  under  an  Xl-century  archbishop,  a 
son  of  Duke  Richard  II.  In  1063,  that  Romanesque  church 
was  dedicated  by  Archbishop  Maurille  (whose  tomb  is  in  the 
present  ambulatory)  in  the  presence  of  William  the  Con- 
queror and  his  good  Matilda.  Vestiges  of  the  Romanesque 
edifice  are  in  the  first  bay  of  the  choir  aisle.  In  it  were  interred 
the  prodigious  Rollo,  the  Norwegian  sea-robber,  who  sacked 
half  Normandy,  sailed  up  the  Seine  to  terrorize  Paris,  and 
up  the  Loire  to  overrun  Auvergne  and  Burgundy,  and  yet, 
no  sooner  was  he  granted  the  duchy  of  northern  France  than 
the  buccaneer  gave  way  to  a  ruler  whose  laws  were  so  respected 
that  golden  bracelets  were  left  exposed  and  remained  unstolen 
for  years  in  the  forest  of  Roumare.  Rollo  was  baptized  a 
Christian  in  Rouen,  in  912,  and  there  he  wedded  a  Carolingian 
princess.  When  his  son,  William  Longsword,  died  in  945, 
he  was  wearing  a  gold  key  that  opened  a  casket  containing 
a  monk's  robe  for  his  burial;  the  new  rulers  were  swift  to 
comprehend  that  monasteries  were  the  chief  civilizers  in  that 
formative  age. 

Near  Rouen,  in  1087,  died  the  Conqueror,  sixth  in  descent 
from  Rollo.  "Pirate  jostled  statesman"  in  him,  too.  Mor- 
tally wounded  at  Mantes,  he  was  brought  to  the  priory  of  St. 
Gervase — beneath  which  suburban  church  still  exists  intact 
a  V-century  crypt — and  as  he  heard  the  bells  of  Rouen  Cathe- 
dral ringing,  there  rose  to  haunt  him  the  curses,  not  loud 
but  deep,  of  the  oppressed  Anglo-Saxons,  and  most  piteously 

510 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

he  petitioned  the  Queen  of  Heaven  to  draw  Her  Son's  atten- 
tion to  all  the  religious  houses  he  had  built  for  the  people's 
good  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel.  No  sooner  was  he  dead 
than  his  retainers  stripped  and  robbed  him,  and  through 
private  charity  he  was  carried  to  his  horror-inspiring  burial 
at  Caen. 

To  Rouen,  because  of  its  generosity  to  him  in  his  captivity, 
Richard  Coeur-de-Lion  bequeathed  his  heart.  In  1203  the 
last  duke  of  Normandy,  John  Lackland,  fled  from  Rouen 
after  the  murder  of  his  nephew,  Arthur  of  Brittany,  of  which 
the  popular  voice  accused  him.  Philippe-Auguste  entered 
the  city  in  triumph  in  1204,  and  the  building  of  the  new  Gothic 
cathedral  started  apace. 

Notre  Dame  at  Rouen  is  associated  closely  with  the  return 
of  Normandy  under  French  rule.  On  Easter  night,  1200, 
fire  ravaged  the  city  and  its  chief  church.  Whether  the 
cathedral  then  wrecked  was  that  blessed  in  1063  by  Bishop 
Robert  de  Maurille  is  uncertain.  Some  think  that  it  was  a 
Romanesque  choir  and  transept  which  were  burned,  and  a  re- 
cently built  Primary  Gothic  nave.  It  may  have  been  an  entirely 
new  Gothic  church  which  was  destroyed.  At  any  rate,  the  north- 
west tower,  named  after  the  VH-century  bishop,  Romanus, 
and  the  side  doors  of  the  main  fagade  escaped  the  fire.  The 
preservation  of  the  tower  was  due,  probably,  to  its  position 
beyond  the  side  aisle.  The  doors,  built  about  1180,  are 
ornamented  with  Oriental  incrustations  such  as  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  cathedral  at  Genoa,  with  which  seaport  Rouen 
had  trade  links. 

The  Tour  Saint-Romain,  whose  prototypes  were  the  towers 
at  Etampes,  Vendome,  and  Chartres,  was  long  counted  as 
the  oldest  Primary  Gothic  work  extant  in  Normandy,  with 
the  chapter  house  at  St.  Georges  de  Boscherville  and  the 
chapel  of  St.  Julien,  Petit-Quevilly.1  But  as  many  archaeolo- 


1  Henry  II,  the  first  Plantagenet,  made  for  his  own  residence  the  chapel  of  St.  Julien 
in  a  faubourg  of  Rouen,  Petit-Quevilly.  Simultaneously  Romanesque  and  Gothic, 
the  small  edifice  is  one  of  the  most  elegant  specimens  of  Normandy's  XH-century 
architecture.  Only  the  choir  bay  has  retained  the  polychrome  decoration  which 

511 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

gists  now  say  that  the  Gothic  vault  of  St.  fitienne's  nave  at 
Caen  may  be  1130  just  as  well  as  1160,  and  that  there  are  still 
earlier  diagonals  in  the  duchy,  it  remains  an  open  question 
where  the  oldest  extant  ogival  work  of  Normandy  is.  Mr. 
John  Bilson  claims  that  the  diagonals  of  Lessay's  choir  pre- 
date any  in  the  Ile-de-France.  However  the  controversy 
over  the  priority  of  diagonals  may  be  decided,  the  tower  of 
St.  Remain  is  the  first  Norman  monument  that  shows  the 
incontestable  influence  of  Gothic  of  the  Ile-de-France  type. 

The  spirit  of  religious  ardor  that  expressed  itself  in  the 
northwest  tower  of  Rouen  Cathedral  was  described  by  Bishop 
Hugues  d'Amiens  in  a  letter,  in  1145,  to  a  brother  prelate. 
He  tells  how  volunteers  were  quitting  Normandy  to  aid  in 
the  making  of  the  new  tower  at  Chartres:  "In  like  manner, 
a  large  number  of  the  faithful  of  this,  our  diocese,  and  of 
neighboring  regions,  put  themselves  to  work  on  the  cathedral 
church,  their  mother,  forming  associations  to  which  no  one 
is  admitted  unless  he  has  confessed  his  sins,  fulfilled  his  pen- 
ances, laid  down  at  the  foot  of  the  altar  every  enmity  and 
revenge,  and  become  reconciled  with  his  enemies  in  a  true 
peace.  Under  the  lead  of  one  in  the  band,  who  is  chosen  as 
chief,  the  people  drag  heavy  wagons  in  humility  and  silence." 
The  writer  of  this  famous  letter  had  been  a  monk  of  Cluny, 
and  while  ruling  the  see  of  Rouen  he  taught  school  there; 
he  had  inherited  the  traditions  of  Bee's  scholarship  through 
Anselm  of  Laon.  The  lower  hall  of  the  cathedral  tower  then 
begun  is  considered  faultless.  Before  the  close  of  the  century 
the  upper  hall  was  completed,  but  the  belfry  story  was  not 
added  till  the  late-Gothic  day. 

After  the  fire  of  1200  work  on  the  new  cathedral  was  pushed 
on  with  energy.  A  master  called  Jean  d'Andely  is  cited  as 
the  architect,  a  native,  probably,  of  Les  Andelys  farther  up 
the  Seine,  where  there  are  two  churches  so  closely  resembling 

once  covered  the  interior.  St.  Julien's  sexpartite  vault  has  been  replaced  by  a  wooden 
roof. 

Doctor  Coutan,  Monographic  de  St.  Julien,  Petit-Quevilly,  and  his  account,  p.  239, 
in  La  Normandie  monumentale  et  pittoresque.  Seine-Inferieure;  Duchemin,  Le  Petit- 
Quevilly  et  le  prieure  de  Saint  Julien. 

512 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

the  cathedral  of  Rouen  that  they  are  doubtless  from  the  same 
hand.1  Another  architect,  named  Enguerrand,  is  mentioned 
as  quitting  work  on  the  cathedral  of  the  capital  in  1214,  to 
undertake  the  abbatial  at  Bee.  A  keystone  of  Notre  Dame, 
of  the  date  1233,  is  inscribed  by  one  Durand,  mason.  He 
is  thought  to  have  been  the  son-in-law  of  the  original  architect, 
Jean  d'Andely. 

The  first  plan  of  Rouen  Cathedral  called  for  tribunes  over 
the  aisles,  but  the  idea  was  given  up  in  order  to  have  the  side 
aisles  twice  as  high  as  originally  designed.  The  arches  by 
which  the  tribunes  would  have  opened  on  the  central  vessel 
were  retained,  however,  as  was  done  later  with  the  false 
tribunes  of  the  abbey  church  at  Eu.  In  the  side  aisles,  resting 
on  the  capitals  of  the  nave's  piers,  are  ringed  colonnettes  that 
rise  to  the  ledge  above — a  ledge  constructed  to  catch  the 
tribune's  diagonals  (which  never  were  built).  By  this  grace- 
ful expedient  they  cloaked  architectural  members  prepared 
but  not  used.  The  passageway  carried  from  pier  to  pier  above 
the  main  arcade  of  the  nave  is  exceptional.  An  apsidal  chapel 
projects  from  each  arm  of  the  transept,  as  in  the  Romanesque 
edifices  of  the  region. 

The  archbishop  under  whom  Notre  Dame  of  Rouen  was 
begun  was  Walter  of  Coutance,  Gautier-le-magnifique  (1184- 
1207),  who  willed  his  fortune  to  the  cathedral,  since  it  was  he, 
devoted  public  servant  of  the  Plantagenets,  and  long  the 
chief  justice  of  England,  who  had  urged  the  chapter  to  sell 

1  The  church  of  St.  Sauveur  in  Petit-Andely,  begun  in  1215,  finished  in  1245,  con- 
tains excellent  Xlll-century  glass.  Of  the  same  date  are  the  fagade,  nave,  and  square- 
ended  choir  of  Notre  Dame  at  Grand-Andely.  Its  central  tower  is  of  the  XV  century; 
the  transept  is  a  gem  of  Flamboyant  Gothic.  The  most  brilliant  of  its  windows  date 
from  1540  to  1616.  Above  the  smaller  Andely  stands  Chateau  Gaillard,  the  "Saucy 
Castle,"  which  Richard  the  Lion-hearted  built  in  a  year.  Its  capture  in  1204  by 
Philippe- A uguste  ended  the  English  resistance  in  Normandy  at  that  period.  Five 
miles  away  are  the  remains  of  the  magnificent  chateau  of  Gaillon,  where  every  master 
of  the  Renaissance  in  France  was  employed.  Begun  in  1454  by  Cardinal  d'Estoute- 
ville,  it  was  carried  forward  by  Cardinal  George  I  d'Amboise  and  Cardinal  de  Bourbon. 
Its  bas-relief  of  St.  George  and  the  dragon  is  one  of  the  three  authenticated  works  of 
Michel  Colombe.  A  facade  of  Gaillon  is  now  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Beaux-Arts  at 
Paris.  Abbe  Poree,  Guide  historique  ct  descriptive  aux  Andclys;  Congrca  Archcolagiquc, 
1853;  La  Normandie  monumentalc  ct  pittorcsquc.  Eure  I,  pp.  147,  103  (Le  Havre, 
1895);  E.  A.  Didron,  "Les  vitraux  du  Grand-Andely,"  in  Annales  Archeol.,  vol.  22. 

513 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

its  treasure  to  help  ransom  Coeur-de-Lion  from  captivity 
after  the  Third  Crusade.  He  himself  went  as  hostage  into 
Germany  in  order  that  Richard  might  be  released  before  his 
full  ransom  was  raised.  Learned,  liberal,  and  affable,  Bishop 
Walter  was  a  man  of  whom  all  spoke  well. 

The  choir  of  Rouen  Cathedral  showed  more  the  regional 
characteristics;  the  arches  were  more  acute  and  the  moldings 
multiple.  The  circular  piers  about  the  sanctuary  have 
Norman  round  capitals.  We  know  that  in  1235  a  bishop 
was  buried  in  the  choir,  which  must  have  been  entirely  fin- 
ished when,  in  1255,  St.  Louis  spent  Easter  in  Rouen  as  the 
guest  of  his  friend  and  counselor,  Archbishop  Eudes  Rigaud 
(1247-74),  a  Franciscan,  who  was  to  accompany  the  king 
on  his  fatal  crusade.  The  choir's  upper  windows  were  recon- 
structed during  the  XV  century. 

About  1280,  architect  Jean  Davy  began  the  south  fagade 
of  the  transept,  the  Portail  de  la  Calende,  so  called  because 
there  was  carved  there  a  mythical  animal  of  that  name,  con- 
sidered in  ancient  times  as  a  symbol  of  the  Saviour,  since  the 
superstition  was  that  the  sight  of  a  Calende  cured  illness. 
The  transept  fagades  of  Rouen  are  among  the  best  works  of 
the  Rayonnant  phase.  Their  sculpture,  says  M.  Enlart, 
has  not  yet  the  fluid  indecision  of  XlV-century  draperies. 
A  pronounced  feature  of  that  period  are  the  openwork  gables, 
which,  though  they  may  be  superbly  decorative,  are  none 
the  less  a  step  away  from  constructive  sincerity,  since  drip 
stones  made  of  lacework  masonry  fail  to  fulfill  their  practical 
function. 

The  northern  door  of  the  transept  was  named  from  the 
canon's  library  beside  it.  It,  too,  like  the  earlier  Calende 
portal,  was  paneled  with  medallions  over  which  many  a 
pharisee  has  shaken  his  head.  The  Middle  Ages  were  neither 
pharisaic  nor  prudish.  Rouen's  little  sculptured  groups  are 
merely  fantastic  and  popular.  They  embody  no  satire  against 
the  clergy,  as  some  would  intimate;  nor  are  they  obscene. 
To  place  a  centaur  or  an  acrobat  in  proximity  to  a  scriptural 
group  seemed  then  no  more  profane  than  to  illuminate  the 

514 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

margins  of  missals  with  meaningless  frolics.  Leeway  was 
allowed  the  artistic  imagination,  which  here  ran  largely  to 
grotesques.  The  medallions  of  the  Calende  door  were  in 
better  sequence  and  of  more  vigorous  character  than  those 
of  the  Portail  des  Libraires.  Beside  this  latter  entrance  is 
the  courtroom  of  the  archepiscopal  palace  adorned  with 
statues  representing  Solomon's  judgment,  in  souvenir  of  the 
old  usage  of  rendering  justice  before  church  doors. 

From  1302  to  1320  rose  the  Rayonnant  Gothic  Lady  chapel 
of  impeccable  mechanical  skill  but  not  inspired.  Long  cen- 
turies later,  during  the  Revolution,  its  tomb  of  the  cardinals 
d'Amboise,1  in  which  Gothic  sculpture  culminated,  escaped 
destruction  because  the  axis  chapel  served  as  a  granary. 
Clement  V,  the  builder  of  Bordeaux'  Rayonnant  choir,  ar- 
ranged that  his  nephew,  who  was  archbishop  of  Rouen  and 
had  got  into  difficulties  with  the  Norman  nobles,  should  ex- 
change his  see  with  Gilles  Aycelin,  the  prelate  who  was  erect- 
ing Narbonne  Cathedral,  brother  of  the  bishop-builder  of  Cler- 
mont's  nave.  A  little  later  another  archbishop  of  Rouen  became 
the  Avignon  pontiff  who  built  the  audience  hall  and  the  chief 
chapel  of  the  palace  on  the  Rhone.  Other  XlV-century  addi- 
tions to  Rouen  Cathedral  are  the  side  chapels;  every  guild  and 
corporation  craved  thus  to  honor  its  own  particular  patron. 

Those  contemporary  works,  Rouen's  Lady  chapel,  the 
choirs  of  Bordeaux  and  Narbonne,  Avignon's  halls,  belong 
to  the  phase  of  the  national  genius  which  we  call  Rayonnant 
because  of  its  geometric  window  tracery,  a  phase  aptly  desig- 
nated as  metallic  by  M.  Gonse.  Artists  were  fast  losing 
their  exquisite  feeling  for  the  silhouette;  the  vertical  line 

1  Opposite  the  tomb  of  the  d'Amboise  cardinals  (1513-25),  predominantly  Gothic 
in  character,  is  the  purely  Renaissance  monument  of  Louis  de  Breze  (1536-44),  senes- 
chal of  Normandy,  son  of  the  daughter  of  Charles  VII  and  Agnes  Sorel.  The  kneeling 
figure  on  the  tomb  is  the  notorious  Diane  de  Poitiers,  his  widow.  The  critics  say 
that  if  the  De  Breze  mausoleum  is  not  the  work  of  Jean  Goujon,  Diane's  favorite 
sculptor,  then  there  must  have  been  living  here  an  unknown  XVI-century  master  of 
the  first  order.  Jean  Goujon  was  in  Rouen,  making  the  wooden  doors  of  St.  Maclou, 
at  that  time. 

Paul  Vitry,  Jean  Goujon  (Collection.  Les  Grandes  Artistes),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens, 
1908);  Louis  Gonse,  La  sculpture  frangaise  depuis  le  XIVe  siecle  (Paris,  1895);  Leon 
Palustre,  La  Renaissance  en  France,  vol.  1  (Paris,  Quantin,  1888),  3  vols. 

515 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

was  over-accentuated;  triforium  and  clearstory  had  become 
one  composition.  Pitiless  logic  was  drying  up  the  spring  of 
inspiration.  When  the  cathedral  of  Rouen  remade  three 
bays  of  the  nave's  triforium,  the  model  taken  was  the 
geometric  design  of  that  masterpiece  of  Rayonnant  Gothic, 
the  abbatial  of  St.  Ouen.  Before  the  XIV  century  closed 
the  fagade  of  the  cathedral  was  redressed  with  arcatures 
and  statues  like  the  west  frontispieces  of  Wells,  Salisbury, 
and  Litchfield. 

The  XV  century  carried  through  the  chief  supplementary 
works  of  Sainte-Marie  of  Rouen  in  a  style  frankly  florid. 
Normandy,  Artois,  and  Picardy  reveled  in  the  last  develop- 
ment of  the  national  art,  regions  all  of  them  having  close 
links  with  England.  For  if  much  of  Flamboyant  Gothic  was 
indigenous,  as  M.  Anthyme  Saint-Paul  contends,  if  it  enveloped 
and  absorbed  Rayonnant  Gothic,  it  seems  fairly  well  proved 
that  its  two  most  pronounced  traits,  the  flamelike  window 
tracery  and  arches  of  double  curvature,  came  from  England. 
M.  Enlart  says  that  ramified  vaults  were  built  at  Ely,  Lincoln, 
and  Litchfield,  during  the  XIII  century.  By  1304  accolade 
arches  were  used;  at  Merton  College,  Oxford,  is  a  flame- 
tracery  window  of  1310,  features  not  to  be  found  in  France 
before  1375. l  In  the  Rayonnant  phase  lines  break;  in  the 
Flamboyant  they  undulate.  Rayonnant  capitals  were  dimin- 
ished; capitals  disappeared  altogether  in  the  later  period, 
and  molds  melted  into  the  piers. 

Normandy  expressed  her  renewed  national  dignity  with 
enthusiasm  in  the  flowery,  happy  architecture  we  call  Flam- 
boyant: 

Le  Temps  a  laissie  son  manteau 

De  vent,  de  froidure  et  de  pluye, 

Et  s'est  vestu  de  broderye 

De  soleil  raiant,  cler,  et  beau. 

1  Canaille  Enlart,  on  the  origin  of  Flamboyant  Gothic,  Jn  the  Archaeological  Journal, 
1886,  and  in  Histoire  de  I' Art  (ed.  A.  Michel),  vol.  3,  l"e  partie  (Paris,  Colin,  1914); 
Bulletin  Monumental,  1906,  vol.  70,  pp.  38,  483,  511,  the  controversy  between  M. 
Saint-Paul  and  M.  Enlart,  on  the  origin  of  Flamboyant  Gothic;  Anthyme  Saint-Paul, 
L' architecture  fran^aise  et  la  Guerre  de  Cent  Ans  (1910);  ibid.,  Les  origines  du  gothique 
flamboyant  en  France  (Caen,  1907). 

516 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

So  sang  Charles,  Duke  of  Orleans,  come  back  from  twenty  years 
in  English  prisons  to  witness  the  expulsion  of  the  invader  from 
Normandy : 

H  n'y  a  beste  ne  oiseau 
Que  en  son  jargon  ne  chante  ou  crye; 
Le  Temps  a  laissie  son  manteau 
De  vent,  de  froidure  et  de  pluye.1 

How  they  built  in  Rouen!  With  what  vim  and  emanci- 
pated energy!  St.  Ouen  carried  forward  its  nave  and  raised 
a  central  tower.  From  1437  to  1480  was  built  the  gallant 
little  church  of  St.  Maclou  with  a  central  tower  that  is  one 
of  the  best  in  Normandy,  and  whose  curving  front  of  five 
arcades  is  profusely  elegant.  Similarly  large,  ornate  portals 
became  the  vogue  in  late-Gothic  Norman  construction.  St. 
Maclou  is  to  the  Gothic  art  of  the  XIII  century  what  the 
reel  is  to  the  minuet,  said  an  English  architect.2 

In  the  cathedral  of  Rouen  one  noted  master  succeeded 
another.  Guillaume  Pontifs  put  the  belfry  on  St.  Remain 's 
tower  (1463-77) ;  built  the  canon's  library,  to  which  he  made 
a  staircase  from  the  cathedral's  transept;  and  made  the 
decorated  portico  leading  from  the  rue  St.  Remain  to  the 
court  before  the  Portail  des  Libraires.  No  approach  to  a 
church  possesses  more  entirely  the  atmosphere  of  the  Middle 
Ages  than  that.  Pontifs  began  a  masterpiece  of  Flamboyant 
architecture,  the  Tour  de  Beurre  (1485-1509),  that,  as  it 
rises,  grows  more  and  more  sumptuous,  though  it  never  loses 
its  architectural  lines.  Unfortunately  the  stone  used  was  of 
poor  quality,  which  necessitated  a  coarse  sculpture.  The 
transition  from  square  to  octagon  was  gracefully  achieved 

1  Charles  d'Orleans,  Poesies,  ed.  Ch.  d'Hericault  (Paris),  2  vols. 

2  St.  Maclou,  says  Mr.  F.  M.  Simpson,  expresses  the  joic  dc  viorc,  even  as  the  stiff 
angular  lines  of  a  contemporary  style — the  English  Perpendicular — show  the  gloom 
that  prevailed  in  England  after  the  War  of  the  Roses.     Cardinal  Guillaume  d'Estoutc- 
ville  contributed  toward  St.  Maclou,  which  was  dedicated  only  in  1521,  by  Cardinal 
Georges    II   d'Amboise.     Jean   Goujon   probably  made   the   riehjy   chiseled   doors. 
St.  Maclou  has  XV-century  windows;    its  rose  windows  are  of  the  XVI  century. 
There  is  Le  Prince  glass  in  the  late-Gothic  church  of  St.  Vincent,  and  other  XVI- 
century  windows  in  St.  Patrice.     Abbe  Ouin-Lacroix,  Histoire  dc  Vcglisc  ct  dc  la  paroisse 
de  St.  Maclou  de  Rouen   (1846);    Edmond   Renaud,  L'eglise   St.   Vincent  dc   Rouen 
(1885);  Arthur  Kingsley  Porter,  Medieval  Architecture,  vol.  2,  pp.  389  to  416,  "Flam- 
boyant Gothic  Monuments." 

517 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

by  the  one  constructive  arrangement  which  originated  during 
the  final  stage  of  the  national  art:  to  unify  the  design,  flying 
buttresses  were  sprung  from  the  corner  turrets  and  the  face- 
shafts  to  the  octagon.1 

From  1497  to  1507  the  master-of-works  at  Rouen  Cathedral 
was  Jacques  Le  Roux,  who  continued  the  Tour  de  Beurre, 
finished  by  his  nephew,  Rouland  Le  Roux  (1507-20),  an  artist 
of  the  first  order.  He  redressed  the  upper  part  of  the  main 
frontispiece  in  order  to  put  it  into  character  with  the  Tour 
de  Beurre  and  St.  Romain's  belfry.  After  completing  the 
middle  portal  of  the  f agade  he  reconstructed  the  central  tower, 
whose  platform  he  raised  a  story  higher.  When  Rouen's 
lantern  tower  was  burned  in  1822  the  present  iron  skeleton 
was  contrived,  a  structure  too  mechanical  to  be  architecture, 
but  of  good  effect  in  the  distant  views  of  the  city. 

The  oft  repeated  renewals  of  the  famous  frontispiece 
of  Rouen  Cathedral  account  for  its  failure  to  express  the 
interior  church  structurally,  but  though  merely  a  screen,  it 
is  deservedly  popular,  "one  of  the  dreams  of  the  Middle 
Ages,"  M.  Emile  Lambin  has  called  it.  By  moonlight  its 
effect  is  romantic,  almost  spectacular.  Most  popular,  too, 
is  another  work  of  Rouland  Le  Roux,  the  Palais  de  Justice 
which  he  built  with  Roger  Ango,  from  1493  to  1507,  for  the 
parliament  of  Normandy.  A  pomp  and  a  pageantry  carried 
almost  to  folly  distinguished  the  generations  that  raised  mon- 
uments such  as  these.  In  1520,  when  Francis  I  met  Henry 
VIII,  not  far  from  Rouen,  at  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold, 


1  Notre  Dame  at  Caudebec-en-Caud,  called  by  Henry  IV  "the  most  beautiful  chapel 
of  my  kingdom  of  France,"  has  its  "tiara"  united  to  its  shaft  by  flying  buttresses. 
Other  Flamboyant  Gothic  monuments  in  Normandy  are  Louviers'  lacelike  portal 
(1493);  churches  at  Dieppe;  the  transept  of  Evreux  Cathedral;  St.  Jacques  at 
Lisieux;  St.  Pierre  at  Coutances;  Les  Andelys,  Elbeuf,  Gisors,  and  the  joyous  festival 
of  stone  of  Notre  Dame  at  Alencon,  where  the  shady  north  side  of  the  nave  is  adorned 
with  Old  Testament  scenes,  and  the  sun-lit  southern  wall  opened  by  spacious  Flam- 
boyant traceries  that  frame  the  New  Testament;  its  Jesse  tree  is  unusual.  Notre 
Dame  at  St.  L6  (which  has  a  Becket  window)  shows  Perpendicular  traits.  Its  west 
portals  are  strangely  dissimilar,  as  are  its  monumental  towers.  Near  Fecamp,  the 
Estouteville  family  founded  Valmont  abbatial  (1116)  now  unroofed  save  its  Lady 
chapel,  in  which  are  splendid  tombs,  a  reredos  of  the  Annunciation  that  is  a  gem 
of  XVI-century  realism,  and  a  window  that  inspired  Eugene  Delacroix's  palette. 

518 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

many  a  lord,  says  the  chronicler,  carried  on  his  back  his  mills 
and  his  forests  and  his  meadows.  One  of  the  most  curious 
houses  in  France,  Rouen's  Hotel  du  Bourgtherould,  now  a 
bank  near  the  Old  Market,  is  decorated  exteriorly  by  reliefs 
of  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold.1  M.  Leon  Palustre  dis- 
covered that  the  sculpture  on  its  tower,  originally  polychrome, 
was  a  copy  of  a  Flemish  tapestry  in  the  possession  of  that 
prince  of  pageantry,  Philippe  le  Hardi  of  Burgundy. 

The  archbishop  of  Rouen  from  1493  to  1510  was  none  other 
than  the  Maecenas  of  his  age,  Cardinal  George  I  d'Amboise, 
chief  minister  of  Louis  XII.  All  over  France  we  have  traced 
the  work  of  that  art-loving  family — at  Paris,  Cluny,  Clermont, 
Chaumont,  Albi.  A  nephew  of  the  same  name  held  the  see 
here  until  1545,  and  saw  to  the  erection  of  his  uncle's  tomb, 
designed  by  Rouland  Le  Roux,  with  sculpture  by  artists  of 
the  Michel  Colombe  tradition  as  well  as  those  of  the  Italian 
Renaissance. 

Rouen  was  so  active  a  center  for  glassmaking  that,  in  1317, 
Exeter  obtained  windows  here,  as  did  Gloucester  and  Merton 
College,  Oxford.  Next  to  Troyes,  Rouen  contained  the 
richest  collection  of  colored  glass  in  France.  Until  the  Revo- 
lution her  eighty  lesser  churches  were  filled  with  it.  The  best 
windows  left  are  six  lancets  in  the  ambulatory  of  the  cathedral. 
They  belong  to  the  XIH-century  school  of  Chartres  and 
are  exceptional  in  being  the  only  signed  windows;  "Clement 
of  Chartres  "  was  their  maker.  The  first,  given  by  a  company 
of  boatmen,  relates  the  legend  of  St.  Julian  Hospitator,  who 
ferried  strangers  day  and  night  over  the  river,  a  story  re- 
counted by  Gustave  Flaubert,  a  son  of  Rouen.2  The  other 

1  Sir  Theodore  Andreas  Cook,  Twenty-five  Great  Houses  of  France,  chap.  12  (New 
York  ahd  London,  1916). 

2  Flaubert,  born  in  Rouen,  1821,  died  near  the  city,  at  Croisset,  in  his  ancient  house 
that  formerly  belonged  to  the  monks  of  St.  Ouen.     The  increased  river  activities 
during  the  World  War  have  encroached  on  his  property.     His  pupil,  Guy  de  Maupas- 
sant, bora  near  Dieppe,  was  associated  with  his  mother's  city,  Rouen,  where  stands 
his  statue  (1853-93).     The  house  of  the  great  Corneille  (1636-1709)  is  near  Rouen's 
Old  Market.     Other  sons  of  Rouen  were  La  Salle,  the  explorer  (d.  1687),  and  the 
painter    Gericault    (1791-1824).     Nicholas  Poussin   (1594-1665)    was   born  at  Lcs 
Andelys;    Jean-Frangois  Millet,   near  Cherbourg  (1814-74);    Auber,   the  composer 
(1782-1871),  at  Caen,  as  was  the  poet  Malherbes  (1555-1628).     Mezcrai,  whose 

519 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

five  lancets  are  of  the  Biblia  pauperum  type,  teaching  dogma 
to  the  people.  The  cold,  limpid  hues  of  the  XIV  century  ap- 
pear in  the  Lady  chapel,  and  in  the  chapel  of  St.  Jeanne  d'Arc 
is  an  interesting  Pentecost  window  of  that  century;  con- 
temporary are  the  apse  lights  in  the  upper  choir,  where  the 
unsuccessful  experiment  was  tried  of  continuing  the  subject 
from  one  panel  to  another — here  the  arms  of  the  Crucified 
Lord  extend  into  the  lateral  lights.  The  cathedral's  west  rose 
is  of  the  XV  century ;  in  the  transept  is  a  XVI-century  window 
devoted  to  the  ancient  bishop  Romanus.  The  abbatial  of  St. 
Ouen  has,  with  the  choir  of  Evreux,  the  best  array  extant  of 
XlV-century  canopy  glass  figures.  So  loath  were  the  vitrine 
artists  to  give  up  an  architectural  design  in  glass  that  when  the 
XV  century  composed  scenes  instead  of  single  figures  for  each 
panel,  even  those  small  groups  were  set  in  grisaille  frames. 

The  iconoclastic  1562  worked  havoc  in  Rouen.  For  twenty- 
four  hours  a  Huguenot  mob  wrecked  tombs,  altars,  and  win- 
dows in  the  cathedral,  to  such  an  extent  that  it  lay  unused 
during  half  a  year.  One  mourns  the  loss  of  the  cenotaph  of 
good  Charles  V,  made  in  1369  by  the  same  Jean  de  Marville 
who  designed  the  famous  Dijon  tomb  of  the  king's  brother. 
Ten  years  later,  in  1572,  the  Rouen  Catholics  retaliated  by 
massacring  some  eight  hundred  Calvinists  in  the  city  on  St. 
Bartholomew's  Day. 

In  the  World  War  Rouen  became  almost  an  English  city 
again.  This  time,  however,  England,  the  ancient  combatant 
of  France,  came  not  as  a  detested  invader,  but  as  her  ally  in 
dire  years  of  distress.  It  is  pleasant  to  learn  that  devotion 
to  the  Maid  of  Orleans  was  not  infrequent  among  the  English 
troops  of  1914-18. 

history  is  considered  the  best  account  of  the  XVI-century  religious  struggle  in  France, 
and  his  brother,  Jean  Eudes,  founder  of  the  Eudists,  were  born  near  Caen.  The  great 
seamen,  Tourville  (1642-1701)  and  Du  Quesne  (1610-88),  were  Normans;  so  were 
Laplace,  the  mathematician  (1749-1827),  Alexis  de  Tocqueville  (1805-59),  Bernardin 
de  Saint-Pierre  (1736-1814),  Octave  Feuillet  (1821-90),  Leon  Gautier  (1832-97), 
Barbey  d'Aurevilly  (1808-89),  and  savants  such  as  Simeon  Luce  (d.  1892),  Gabriel 
Monod  ('1.  1912),  Albert  Sorel,  Paul  Allard,  Leopold  Delisle  (d.  1910).  The  latter 
was  led  to  decipher  ancient  manuscripts  by  C.  de  Gerville,  who,  with  that  other  Nor- 
man, Aicisse  de  Caumont,  was  a  pioneer  in  mediaeval  archeology. 

520 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

JEANNE  D'ARC'S  TRIAL  IN  ROUEN » 

De  ma  part,  je  repute  son  histoire  un  vrai  miracle  le  Dieu.  La  pudicite* 
que  je  vois  1'avoir  accompagnee  jusques  a  sa  mort,  meme  au  milieu  des 
troupes;  la  juste  querelle  qu'elle  prit;  la  prouesse  qu'elle  y  apporta;  les 
heureux  succes  de  ses  affaires;  la  sage  simplicite  que  je  recueille  de  ses 
re"ponses  au  interrogatoires  qui  lui  furent  faits  par  les  juges  du  tout  voues  a 
sa  ruine;  ses  predictions  qui,  depuis,  sortirent  effet;  la  mort  cruelle  qu'elle 
choisit  dont  elle  se  pouvoit  garantir  s'il  y  eut  de  la  feintise  en  son  fait;  tout 
cela  dis-je,  me  fait  croire  (joint  les  voyes  du  ciel  quelle  oyoit)  que  toute 
sa  vie  et  histoire  fut  un  vrai  martyre  de  Dieu. — Testimony  of  ETIENNE 
PASQUIEB  (1529-1615). 

So  swiftly  followed  the  fruitage  of  the  sacrifice  offered  up 
in  the  Vieux-Marche  on  May  21,  1431,  that  in  every  part  of 
the  ancient  city  of  Rouen  sprang  up  exuberant,  vigorous, 
Flamboyant  monuments.  The  most  momentous  and  the 
saddest  happening  in  the  history  of  Normandy's  capital  was 
the  burning  at  the  stake  of  Jeanne  la  Pucelle  whose  relief  of 
Orleans,  only  two  short  years  before,  had  saved  the  nation 
in  its  last  gasp. 

From  the  church  of  St.  Saviour  on  the  market  place  they 
brought  her  the  cross  for  which  she  begged  on  that  tragic 
morning,  that  the  pillory  on  which  her  Lord  had  hung  might 

1  Jules  Quicherat,  the  archaeologist,  was  the  first  to  place  before  the  public  the  records 
of  Jeanne  d'Arc's  two  trials.  He  printed  (1841-49)  five  volumes  in  Latin  for  the 
Societe  de  I'histoire  de  France.  Accounts  of  Jeanne  have  been  written  by  Wallon 
(Paris,  1877);  Marius  Sepet  (Tours,  1885);  Ayroles,  S.  J.  (Paris,  1902),  who  dwells 
much  on  the  nefarious  part  played  by  Paris  University  in  her  condemnation;  Simeon 
Luce;  G.  Hanotaux  (Paris,  1911);  Petit  de  Julleville  (Les  Saints  Collection, 
Paris,  Lecoffre,  1907);  Andrew  Lang  (London,  1908);  Mrs.  Oliphant  (Leaders  of 
the  Nation  Series,  New  York);  D.  Lynch,  S.  J.  (New  York,  1919);  Sarrazin,  Jeanne 
d'Arc  et  la  Normandie  au  XV*  siccle  (Rouen,  1896);  F.  Poulaine,  Jeanne  d'Arc  a 
Rouen  (Paris,  1899);  Ch.  Lemire,  Jeanne  d'Arc  en  Picardie  et  en  Normandie  (Paris, 
1903);  Le  P.  Denifle  et  Chatelain,  Le  proces  Jeanne  d'Arc  et  I'universite  de  Paris 
(Paris);  U.  Chevalier,  L' 'abjuration  de  Jeanne  d'Arc;  C.  de  Maleissye,  "La  pretendue 
abjuration  de  St.  Ouen,"  in  Rente  des  Deux  Mondes,  February,  1911,  p.  010.  The 
study  of  Anatole  France  on  Jeanne  d'Arc  is  written  from  the  rationalist  standpoint 
that  considers  hers  a  case  of  hysteria  fitted  for  medical  science.  No  book  on  Jeanne 
equals  the  contemporary  records.  The  report  of  her  two  trials  in  Rouen,  and  the 
testimony  gathered  from  end  to  end  of  France  to  vindicate  her  memory  in  1456, 
have  been  marshaled  and  clarified  in  a  skilled  legal  manner  by  a  magistrate  of  Rouen: 
E.  O'Reilly,  Les  deux  proces  de  condamnation  .  .  ,  ct  la  sentence  de  rehabilitation  de 
Jeanne  d'Arc  (Paris,  Plon,  1868),  2  vols.  This  masterly  work  should  be  translated 
into  English.  It  is  an  example  of  the  right  way  to  write  history.  For  Charles  V71I 
see  Thomas  Basin  and  Vallet  de  Viriville. 

521 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

be  held  up  before  her  eyes,  to  strengthen  her  in  her  last  hour. 
Long  afterward,  in  1450,  Massieu,  the  priest-sheriff  of  her 
trial,  a  weak  man  but  less  unsympathetic  than  many  in  that 
grim  gathering  of  rascals,  testified:  "The  English  feared  her 
more  than  the  whole  army  of  the  king  of  France.  ...  It  was 
they  who  held  the  trial  and  paid  its  costs.  She  was  taken 
to  the  Viel-Marche,  having  beside  her  Brother  Martin  and 
me,  and  accompanied  by  more  than  eight  hundred  mien  at 
arms,  with  spears  and  swords.  On  the  way  she  made  pious 
lamentation  so  touchingly  that  my  companion  and  I  could  not 
keep  back  our  tears.  She  recommended  her  soul  to  God  and  the 
saints  with  such  devotion  that  those  who  heard  her  wept.  All 
distressed,  she  exclaimed,  'Rouen,  Rouen,  must  I  die  here!'" 

When  the  Old  Market  was  reached  Jeanne  heard  herself 
sermonized  as  a  limb  of  Satan,  a  blasphemer  guilty  of  diabolical 
malice,  of  pernicious  crimes,  and  infected  with  the  leprosy  of 
heresy.  Her  sentence  read,  she  fell  on  her  knees  and  addressed 
to  God  prayers  so  ardent  that  even  the  foreign  masters  of 
Rouen  were  moved.  Her  dear  St.  Michael  she  petitioned,  too. 
"As  soon  as  the  flames  reached  her,"  relates  an  eyewitness, 
"she  cried  out  more  than  six  times,  'Jhesus!'  and  then  a  final 
time,  in  a  loud  voice,  with  her  last  breath,  'Jhesus!'  And 
her  cry  was  heard  from  end  to  end  of  the  market  place,  and 
almost  everyone  was  weeping.  ...  A  shiver  passed  over  the 
assembly.  .  .  .  The  people  pointed  at  her  judges  and  said 
that  Jeanne  was  the  victim  of  a  great  injustice.  .  .  .  They 
murmured  that  such  an  evil  deed  should  have  taken  place 
in  their  city.  .  .  .  That  evening  the  executioner  went  to  the 
Dominican  convent  and  confessed  in  fear,  'I  have  burned  a 
saint.'  .  .  .  The  secretary  of  the  English  king  turned  away 
from  the  lamentable  spectacle,  muttering:  'We  are  lost. 
We  have  burned  a  saint!"  Surrounded  by  her  brutal  jailers, 
at  dawn  that  May  morning,  Jeanne  had  said,  with  confidence, 
"With  God's  aid,  I  shall  be  this  night  in  His  Kingdom  of 
Paradise."  As  her  final  cry  to  her  Redeemer  rang  out,  a 
canon  of  Rouen  Cathedral  prayed  aloud,  "Would  to  God  my 
soul  were  where  I  believe  is  the  soul  of  this  Maid." 

522 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

The  young  priest-secretary,  the  clerk  of  the  court,  Manchon, 
who  took  down  her  trial  (and  let  his  irresistible  admiration 
for  her  run  over  in  marginal  notes,  " Superba  responsio!"}, 
testified  later:  "Never  did  I  weep  so  much  over  any  grief 
that  has  come  to  me,  and  for  a  month  I  could  not  be  appeased. 
I  bought  a  little  missal  with  the  money  that  came  to  me  from 
the  trial,  that  I  might  have  cause  to  remember  her  in  my 
prayers."  The  verdict  of  all  impartial  men  in  Rouen,  that 
somber  May  morning  of  1431,  was  that  the  whole  business 
from  beginning  to  end  had  been  violence  and  injustice.1 

A  packed  jury  had  judged  her.  The  president  of  the  tri- 
bunal, the  renegade  selected  to  prove  a  saint  a  sorceress,  was 
Bishop  Pierre  Cauchon,  driven  from  his  see  of  Beauvais  by 
loyal  Frenchmen,  as  the  enemy  of  his  own  country.  Because 
the  see  of  Rouen  was  unoccupied,  the  English  preferred  to 
hold  Jeanne's  trial  there  rather  than  at  Paris,  where  the  bishop 
was  not  their  creature.  How  abject  a  tool  Cauchon  was  is 
to-day  shown  by  old  receipts  which  prove  that  he  was  the 
recipient,  on  each  day  of  the  trial,  of  a  hundred  sols  tournois. 
For  the  same  ignoble  reason  many  a  learned  professor  "charged 
his  soul." 

There  was  not  the  faintest  shadow  of  fair  play  in  the  process. 
After  Maitre  Jean  Lohier  had  said  to  Cauchon  that  the  pro- 
ceedings were  not  valid  because  Jeanne  was  allowed  no  counsel, 
nor  were  the  hearings  in  public  court,  and  those  present  had 
not  freedom  to  express  their  true  opinion,  that  honest  Norman 
lawyer  saw  that  his  only  safety  lay  in  quitting  the  city.  "It 

1  Boisguillaume,  second  clerk  of  the  Rouen  court  in  1431,  Manchon's  assistant, 
testified  before  the  three  inquests  for  Jeanne's  rehabilitation.  He  drew  attention 
to  the  fact  that  all  who  had  been  culpable  of  the  Maid's  death  had  come  to  a  swift 
or  shameful  end.  Estivet  was  found  dead  in  a  gutter  at  the  gates  of  Rouen;  Loyseleur, 
the  false  confessor,  was  struck  down  suddenly;  Cauchon  expired  ignominiously. 
"  I  call  you  to  judgment  before  God  for  what  you  have  done,"  rang  out  Jeanne's 
words  to  these  unworthy  churchmen  on  her  last  day.  Nicolas  Midi,  of  the  Paris 
Parliament,  who  drew  up  the  odious  twelve  accusations,  and  who  sermonized  Jeanne 
in  the  Old  Market,  was  stricken  with  leprosy.  A  year  after  the  execution  died  the 
young  Duchess  of  Bedford,  who  had  inflicted  a  gross  outrage  on  Jeanne,  and  her 
death  detached  from  the  English  cause  her  brother,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  Her 
husband,  John  of  Lancaster,  regent-duke,  brother  of  Henry  V,  died  in  full  youth, 
three  years  later,  and  was  buried  in  Rouen  Cathedral.  His  nephew,  Henry  VI,  was 
dispossessed  of  his  English  crown,  imprisoned,  and  murdered. 

523 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

is  an  affair  of  hate,"  he  said  to  young  Secretary  Manchon 
one  day  as  they  stood  together  in  Rouen  Cathedral.  "Delib- 
erately they  try  to  trap  her.  If  only  she  would  not  say  in 
regard  to  her  apparitions,  'I  know  for  certain,'  but,  'It  seems 
to  me,'  I  do  not  see  how  she  could  be  condemned." 

Some  canons  of  the  cathedral  who  criticized  the  trial  were 
thrown  into  prison,  and  the  English  locked  up  a  citizen  who 
remarked  that  since  Jeanne  had  been  judged  innocent  by  the 
doctors  at  Poitiers,  in  a  court  presided  over  by  the  archbishop 
of  Rheims,  a  second  trial  was  illegal.  Three  of  the  younger 
judges  who  at  first  dared  to  give  their  true  opinion  were 
berated  by  Cauchon,  who  bade  them  quit  their  ecclesiastical 
quibbling  and  let  the  jurists  decide  the  matter.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  aged  bishop  of  Avranches,  then  a  resident  of 
Rouen,  was  set  aside  because  he  advised  that  in  matters 
doubtful  touching  the  faith  the  case  should  be  referred  to 
a  council  or  to  the  pope.  Because  Massieu,  the  humble 
court  usher,  said  to  a  townsman,  "I  can  see  nothing  but 
goodness  and  honor  in  her,"  he  was  threatened  with  a  prison 
cell  where  never  again  would  he  see  sun  or  moon.  The  secre- 
taries, Manchon  and  Boisguillaume,  were  beaten  by  the 
English.  A  man  on  the  street  who  spoke  well  of  Jeanne  was 
chased  by  Lord  Warwick  with  a  drawn  sword  and  almost 
killed.  Passions  ran  high.  Lord  Stafford  drew  his  dagger 
on  Jeanne  in  her  cell  one  day  because  she  said  that  the  English 
would  be  driven  out  of  France.  Even  after  her  execution, 
when  a  Dominican  in  the  city  spoke  kindly  of  her,  he  was 
flung  into  prison  for  a  year. 

Her  judges  sought  to  tire  Jeanne  out  by  long  hours  of  inter- 
rogation; the  lawyers  themselves  came  away  exhausted  from 
the  sessions.  Virulent  against  her  was  Beaupere,  rector  of 
Paris  University,  who,  when  routed  by  the  young  girl's  replies, 
called  her  sly.  When  Cauchon  wished  to  have  it  appear  that 
she  refused  to  submit  to  the  Church,  he  made  the  scribes  omit 
her  statement  that  gladly  she  appealed  to  a  general  council 
or  to  the  pope.  "Ah,"  cried  Jeanne,  "you  write  all  that 
is  against  me,  but  you  do  not  write  anything  for  me."  The 

524 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

lawyers'  subtle  questions  rained  on  her  thick  and  fast  till 
she  would  call  them  to  order  with  admirable  courtesy,  "Beaux 
seigneurs,  faites  Vun  apres  Vautre"  Whenever  she  wished  to 
make  no  reply  to  a  question  came  her  concise,  "Passez  outre." 
Secretary  Manchon  testified  before  an  inquest,  twenty  years 
later,  "Never  could  Jeanne  have  defended  herself  as  she  did 
in  so  difficult  a  cause,  against  so  many  and  such  learned 
doctors,  if  she  had  not  been  inspired." 

Sublime  to  tears  are  some  of  the  answers  made  by  this 
young  country  girl  not  yet  twenty,  who  could  barely  read 
and  write,  who  knew  only  Pater  and  Ave.  When  sheeringly 
asked  were  she  in  a  state  of  grace,  she  replied:  "A  serious 
question  to  answer.  If  I  am,  may  God  keep  me  so;  if  I  am 
not,  may  God  put  me  in  his  grace.  I  would  rather  die  than 
not  have  God's  love."  Awe  fell  on  the  assemblage  and  for 
that  day  the  session  broke  up.1 

Yet  Jeanne  was  very  human  at  her  trial,  too.  It  was  just 
the  well-brought-up  country  maid,  the  Jeannette  they  all 
loved  in  Domremy,  who  boasted  before  those  callous  men: 
"For  sewing  and  for  spinning,  I  fear  no  woman  in  Rouen." 
Those  housewives  of  Rouen,  the  "little  people  of  the  Lord," 
to  whom  Jeanne's  thoughts  turned  in  homely  fashion,  dared 
only  murmur  beneath  their  breath  that  her  process  was  "a 
crying  injustice,"  and  shame  it  was  that  so  evil  a  cause  celebre 
should  take  place  in  their  good  town.  Rouen  was  terrorized 
into  silence  by  her  foreign  master. 

Jeanne's  five  months'  imprisonment  and  final  execution 
at  Rouen  was  a  political  crime  covered  with  the  cloak  of 
religious  zeal  by  a  very  genius  of  hypocrisy.  John  Plantagenet, 
Duke  of  Bedford,  together  with  the  boy  king's  great-uncle, 
the  cardinal  of  Winchester,  were  the  movers  behind  the  scenes. 
Jeanne  never  quitted  her  prison  in  the  castle  built  by  Philippe- 
Auguste — only  a  tower  of  which  is  extant  to-day.  From  that 
stronghold  the  English  governed  Normandy.  Since  the  open- 

1  "  '  Si  j'y  suis,  Dieu  m'y  tienne;  si  je  n'y  suis,  Dieu  m'y  vcuille  mettrc:  j'aimerais 
mieux  mourir  que  de  ne  pas  avoir  1'amour  cle  Dieu! '  A  cctte  reponse,  Ics  jugos 
resterent  stupefaits  et  rompirent  sur-le-champ." — Testimony  of  the  second  clerk  of 
the  court,  Boisguillaume,  in  1450,  before  the  inquest  for  the  rehabilitation. 

525 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

ing  of  the  World  War  an  erroneous  inscription,  placed  by 
partisan  politicians  in  the  wall  of  the  episcopal  palace  of 
Rouen,  has  been  changed,  for  it  sought  to  convey  the  idea 
that  from  the  prelate's  court  of  justice  Jeanne  was  led  forth 
to  her  death.  Never  did  she  set  foot  in  that  officiality  build- 
ing; she  was  held  from  the  first  day  to  the  last  in  an  English 
prison.  From  a  dark  cell  in  the  tower  fortress  she  was  con- 
ducted through  corridors  of  the  same  castle  to  the  hall  where 
sat  her  judges.  Massieu,  the  usher,  used  to  let  her  slip  into 
the  castle  chapel  for  an  Ave  as  she  passed  its  open  door,  but 
even  that  solace  was  stopped  by  Estivet.  That  venomous 
agent  of  Cauchon  accused  Jeanne  of  ironic  replies  ill  suited 
to  a  woman.1 

Cauchon  tried  to  coerce  the  young  priest-secretaries  of  the 
trial,  Manchon  and  Boisguillaume,  to  falsify  their  notes,  but 
they  proved  incorruptible.  And  twenty  years  later  they, 
with  Massieu,  became  the  chief  vindicators  of  the  Maid  when 
the  inquests  for  her  rehabilitation  were  started.  Jeanne  had 
felt  their  unspoken  sympathy.  Once  with  pleasant  humor 
she  told  them  not  to  ask  her  the  same  question  twice  or  she 
would  pull  their  ears.  We  know  from  contemporaries  that 
Jeanne's  way  of  intercourse  was  natural  and  friendly,  enjouee, 
that  her  attitude  was  modesty  itself,  that  her  voice  had  a 
feminine  note  of  sweetness,  that  she  was  strong  and  comely 
and  well  shaped,  that  her  hair  was  dark. 

Born  in  1412,  by  the  Meuse,  in  Domremy,  on  the  old  Roman 
road  from  Langres  to  Verdun,  in  French  territory,  on  the 
borders  of  Champagne  and  Lorraine,  she  was  not  yet  eighteen 
when  she  crossed  the  ravaged  land  in  the  winter  of  1429  to 
rouse  Charles  VII,  then  in  Chinon  Castle.  In  March  of  that 
year  she  raised  the  siege  of  Orleans;  in  July  she  witnessed 

1  The  Norman,  Simeon  Luce,  has  written  of  Jeanne:  "  La  Pucelle  n'est  pas  seule- 
ment  le  type  le  plus  acheve  du  patriotisme,  elle  est  encore  1'incarnation  de  notre  pays 
dans  ce  qu'il  a  de  meilleur.  II  y  a  dans  la  physionomie  de  I'heroine  du  XVe  siecle, 
des  traits  qui  la  rattachent  a  la  France  de  tous  les  temps,  1'entrain  belliqueux,  la  gr£ce 
legere,  la  gaiete  prisesantiere,  1'esprit  mordant,  1'ironie  meprisante  en  face  de  la  force, 
la  pitie  pour  les  petits,  les  faibles,  les  malheureux,  la  tendresse  pour  les  vaincus.  De 
tels  dons  appartiennent  a  notre  tradition  nationale,  et  la  liberatrice  d'Orleans  les  a 
possedes  a  un  si  haut  degre  que  cette  face  de  son  genie  a  frappe  tous  ses  admirateurs." 

526 


GOTHIC   ART  IN  NORMANDY 

the  coronation  of  her  "gentil  dauphin"  at  Rheims;  in  Sep- 
tember occurred  the  assault  on  Paris,  from  which  siege  Charles 
VII,  counseled  by  traitors,  retired,  and  all  winter  Jeanne  was 
kept  in  semiactivity,  though  chafing  to  free  the  land  from  the 
foreign  yoke.  Especially  she  longed  to  go  to  the  aid  of  the 
besieged  Mont-Saint-Michel,  and  to  liberate  from  his  English 
prison  the  poet-duke  of  Orleans,  even,  she  said,  if  it  meant 
going  to  London  Tower  itself.  In  May,  1430,  she  was  cap- 
tured by  her  enemies,  the  Burgundians.  Jeanne's  active 
mission  covered  only  a  year.  "Several  times  in  my  presence," 
testified  the  Duke  d'Alengon,1  her  companion  in  arms,  "Jeanne 
told  the  king  she  would  last  but  a  year,  and  to  look  well  that 
he  made  right  use  of  her."  But  Charles  VII  failed  her. 

After  her  capture  Jeanne  spent  some  months  in  prisons  in 
northern  France,  and  finally  she  was  sold  to  the  English  for 
a  king's  ransom.  Never  in  their  minds  was  there  any  mistake 
as  to  who  had  turned  the  tide  against  them.  "They  had 
for  her  a  mortal  hate,"  said,  in  later  years,  Pierre  Minier, 
one  of  the  judges  cowed  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford;  "they 
thirsted  to  bring  about  her  death,  no  matter  by  what  means." 

From  December,  1430,  to  May,  1431,  Jeanne's  martyrdom 
at  Rouen  endured.  "An  iron  cage  was  made  for  her,  and  at 
night  she  was  chained  up,"  declared  Secretary  Boisguillaume, 

1  The  Duke  d'Alengon  testified,  in  1455,  concerning  Jeanne:  "  I  have  heard  cap- 
tains who  took  part  in  the  siege  of  Orleans  declare  that  what  passed  there  touched  on 
the  miraculous,  that  it  was  no  human  work.  Apart  from  things  of  war  Jeanne  was 
a  simple  young  girl:  but  for  things  of  war,  wielding  the  lance,  massing  the  army, 
preparing  the  battle,  arranging  the  artillery,  she  was  remarkably  skilled.  All  mar- 
veled that  she  should  show  the  ability  and  foresight  of  a  captain  who  had  warred  for 
thirty  years.  Especially  in  her  control  of  artillery  was  she  admirable." 

Equally  convincing  is  the  testimony,  in  1455,  of  the  bastard  of  Orleans,  the  great 
Dunois:  "  I  believe  that  Jeanne  was  sent  of  God  and  that  her  conduct  in  war  was 
more  a  divine  than  a  human  act.  ...  I  heard  the  seneschal  of  Beaucaire,  whom  the 
king  had  appointed  to  watch  over  Jeanne  in  the  wars,  say  that  he  believed  there  never 
was  a  woman  more  chaste.  I  heard  Jeanne  say  to  the  king  one  day:  '  When  I  am 
distressed  that  credence  is  not  given  that  it  is  Heaven  has  sent  me  to  your  aid,  I  with- 
draw to  a  quiet  place  and  I  pray  and  complain  to  God,  and,  my  prayer  finished,  I 
hear  a  voice  saying,  "  Fille  De,  va,  va,  va!  Je  serai  a  ton  ayde,  va! "  '  And  in  repeating 
what  the  voice  said,  Jeanne  was — an  extraordinary  thing — in  a  marvelous  ravish- 
ment, in  a  sort  of  ecstasy,  her  eyes  lifted  to  heaven."  E.  O'Reilly,  Les  deux  proces 
de  condamnation  et  la  sentence  de  rehabilitation  de  Jeanne  d'Arc  (Paris,  Plon,  1868), 
vol.  1,  pp.  153,  156,  206,  214,  2  vols. 


34 


527 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

at  the  inquest  of  1450.  "She  was  incarcerated  in  Rouen 
Castle;  her  guardians  were  English  soldiery  of  the  lowest 
type;  day  and  night  they  kept  watch  .  .  .  they  made  her 
the  object  of  their  mockeries;  often  she  reproached  them  for 
it.  Her  feet  were  held  in  irons  which  were  attached  to  a 
post."  There  were  scenes  in  that  dark  cell,  vouched  for  by 
witnesses,  which  are  too  painful  to  transcribe.1  Only  when 
she  fell  ill  was  the  severity  with  which  she  was  treated  relaxed, 
lest  by  a  natural  death  she  escape  public  burning.  One  day 
Estivet  so  vilified  her  that  she  had  a  relapse  of  fever.  Every 
detail  is  set  down  in  the  process  for  her  rehabilitation,  for 
which  the  Dominican  Brehal  traveled  from  end  to  end  of 
France,  gathering  testimony  from  those  who  had  known 
Jeanne.  But  the  chief  instrument  of  her  vindication  is  the 
word-for-word  record  of  her  trial  at  Rouen  in  1431.  Not  in 
all  history  is  there  a  more  personal  and  appealing  document. 
One  can  hear  Jeanne's  very  accent  in  her  valiant  replies  to 
her  tormentors.  "  Repondes  hardiment,"  her  voices  admon- 
ished her. 

Why  did  Charles  VII,  who,  before  Jeanne  appeared,  was 
about  to  pass  into  foreign  exile,  strike  no  blow  to  rescue  her 
who  had  given  him  back  his  kingdom?  A  difficult  question 
to  answer.  Charles  was  no  hero,  though  his  quality  of  per- 
severance was  ultimately  to  make  him  the  instrument  that 
ended  the  centuries-old  Capet-Plantagenet  duel.  Charles 
was  surrounded  by  counselors  who  were  jealous  of  Jeanne's 
leadership,  who  represented,  her  captivity  as  the  result  of  her 
headstrong  character. 

In  1449  Charles,  le  bien  servi,  but  not  the  duly  grateful, 
entered  Rouen  "in  triumph  and  magnificence  as  never  king 
in  city."  Bells  rang  out  and  children  cried,  "Noel!"  in  wel- 
come. In  the  cathedral  the  festal  throng  gathered.  Beside 
the  king  stood  Jacques  Cceur,  the  merchant-prince,  who  had 
provided  the  funds  for  the  reconquest  of  Normandy,  and 


1  Testimony  of  Isambeau  de  la  Pierre,  in  1450,  before  the  inquest  for  the  rehabili- 
tation: "  Je  la  vis  eploree,  son  visage  plein  de  larmes,  defiguree  et  outragee  en  telle 
°orte  que  j'en  eus  pitie  et  compassion." 

528 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

whose  splendor  of  apparel  on  this  triumphal  entry  was  so  to 
excite  the  barons'  envy  that  within  four  years  their  machina- 
tions had  him  impeached,  despoiled,  and  banished.  He  who 
was  building  at  Bourges  the  finest  bourgeois  mansion  in  France, 
must  have  observed  with  interest  the  host  ,of  Flamboyant 
monuments  then  arising  in  Rouen.  With  Charles  VII  came, 
too,  his  commander  in  chief,  the  great  Dunois,  who  had 
fought  with  Jeanne,  the  half  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
who  that  day  was  singing: 

"  Res  joys-toy,  franc  royaume  de  France! 
A  present  Dieu  pour  toy  se  combat." 

When  Normandy  was  again  French,  not  many  years  were 
to  pass  before  Rouen  exonerated  herself  of  the  crime  of  Jeanne's 
execution.  The  chief  mover  of  the  rehabilitation  was  the 
archbishop  of  the  city,  the  Norman,  Guillaume  d'Estoute- 
ville,  son  of  the  hero  who  in  1415  held  Harfleur  against  the 
entire  army  of  Henry  V,  brother  of  the  knight  who  led  the 
defense  of  Mont-Saint-Michel,  and  nephew  of  Archbishop 
d'Harcourt,  who  gave  up  his  see  of  Rouen  to  live  in  exile, 
rather  than  swear  fealty  to  a  non-French  master.  Cardinal 
d'Estouteville  saw  the  propriety  of  clearing  not  only  Nor- 
mandy but  France  and  the  Church  of  what  had  been  the 
political  crime  of  foreigners.  Through  his  efforts  Pope  Calixtus 
III,  in  1456,  revoked  the  legal  decision  of  1431,  as  "iniquitous, 
malicious,  calumnious,  and  fraudulent."  The  unworthy 
Cauchon  was  excommunicated.  A  formal  reading  of  the 
sentence  of  rehabilitation  took  place  in  the  big  hall  of  Rouen's 
episcopal  palace:  "Considering  the  quality  of  the  judges 
and  of  those  who  directed  the  trial,  considering  that  her 
abjuration  was  extorted  by  fraud  and  violence,  in  presence 
of  the  executioner  and  under  threat  of  fire,  without  the  accused 
understanding  its  full  content  and  terms,  considering  finally 
that  the  crimes  charged  against  her  are  not  proven  whatso- 
ever by  the  process" — thus  runs  the  decree  declaring  Jeanne's 
two  sentences  of  condemnation  in  1431  to  be  the  work  of 
iniquity.  It  was  ordered  that  the  rehabilitation  be  read 

529 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

publicly,  not  alone  in  Rouen,  but  in  all  the  chief  towns  of 
France. 

Rouen  celebrated  with  gladness  the  justice  rendered  to  the 
Maid  who  had  saved  France  in  her  darkest  hour.  A  solemn 
procession,  in  which  marched  Jeanne's  brothers,  who  had 
been  ennobled  by  the  king,  proceeded  to  the  graveyard  beside 
St.  Ouen's  abbatial,  where,  twenty-five  years  earlier,  Jeanne 
had  sat  alone  on  a  platform  above  the  crowd,  just  a  week 
before  her  execution.  They  had  there  read  to  her  the  twelve 
accusations — dubbing  her  witch  and  wanton — which  a  doctor 
of  Paris  University  had  drawn  up,  and  then  a  preacher  thun- 
dered in  vituperation.  Jeanne  listened  gently  till  she  heard 
Charles  VII  abused,  whereupon  she,  who  had  the  mystic  cult 
of  royalty,  lifted  up  her  head  bravely:  "By  my  faith,  sire," 
she  cried,  "my  king  is  a  noble  Christian.  Say  what  you  will 
of  me,  but  leave  my  king  alone."  "Hush  her  up!"  angrily 
cried  Cauchon. 

In  that  cemetery  of  St.  Ouen  occurred  what  now  is  called 
proper  self-defense  on  Jeanne's  part.  She  could  write  her 
name,  but  with  a  smile  she  signed  with  a  circle,  emblem  of 
mockery,  and  a  cross,  meaning  negation.  She  hoped  to  be 
transferred  to  the  prisons  of  the  Church,  where  she  clamored 
to  be  placed.  Jeanne  signed  a  paper  consisting  of  seven  lines, 
and  afterward  they  produced  an  abjuration  of  fifty  lines. 
Her  judge  might  be  a  bishop,  but  never  once  did  she  confuse  the 
Church  she  revered  and  the  unworthy  clerics  who  sat  in  judg- 
ment on  her.  During  the  ceremonies  of  the  rehabilitation 
at  Rouen,  a  great  procession  marched  to  the  Old  Market 
where  had  stood  Jeanne's  funeral  pyre,  and  with  solemnity 
the  twelve  accusations  against  her  were  torn  into  shreds  and 
burned.  Rouen  felt  happier  after  rendering  that  justice, 
and  her  renewed  self-respect  found  natural  expression  in  her 
Flamboyant  Gothic  monuments. 

However,  many  a  long  year  was  to  go  by  before  France 
fully  comprehended  the  martyr  of  Rouen.  Voltaire  libeled 
Jeanne  as  vilely  as  the  XV-century  savants  of  Paris  Univer- 
sity. The  rationalists  of  a  later  day  have  patronized 

530 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

as  self -hallucinated.  But  the  tide  has  mounted.  "The 
day  that  all  the  bells  of  the  world  ring  in  honor  of  Jeanne 
d'Arc,  they  will  sound  abroad  the  glory  of  France,"  said  Leo 
XIII,  in  1896.  The  Maid  of  Domremy-on-the-Meuse  was 
declared  Venerable  in  1904,  Blessed  in  1909,  and  canonized 
a  saint  in  1920.  St.  Jeanne  d'Arc,  ora  pro  nobis! 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  LISIEUX ' 

One  must  live  as  one  thinks,  or  else,  sooner  or  later,  one  finishes  by  think- 
ing as  one  lives. — PAUL  BOUKGET. 

Lisieux  Cathedral  is,  with  that  of  Rouen,  the  least  Norman 
in  the  province.  It  claims  to  be  the  first  built  of  the  Gothic 
cathedrals  of  Normandy  and  the  most  vigorous.  The  pre- 
ceding Romanesque  cathedral  was  grievously  damaged  by 
fire  in  1136.  Arnoul,  a  prelate  who  had  gone  through  the 
disillusioning  experience  of  the  Second  Crusade,  began  the 
present  church.  Similarities  between  it  and  Laon  Cathedral, 
and  various  other  indications,  prove  that  it  was  building  from 
1160  to  1190. 

Bishop  Arnoul,  of  a  line  of  shrewd  Norman  diplomatists, 
profited  materially  by  his  ability  to  keep  on  good  terms  with 
both  husbands  of  Alienor  of  Aquitaine,  Henry  of  England, 
and  Louis  of  France.  In  Lisieux  Cathedral  he  married 
Alienor  to  Henry  II,  which  act  was  to  take  three  hundred  years 
of  war  and  Jeanne's  sacrifice  to  undo.  Arnoul  was  the 
English  king's  chief  adviser  before  Becket's  ascendancy.  It 
is  said  that  he  counseled  Henry,  after  his  first  quarrel  with 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1858,  1870,  and  1908,  p.  300,  Louis  Serbat;  Abbe  V.  Hardy, 
La  cathedrale  St.  Pierre  de  Lisieux  (Paris,  Impri.  Fazicr-Saye,  1917);  La  Normandie 
monumentale  et  pittoresque.  Calvados,  pp.  91,  103,  "  Lisieux,"  Abbe  Marie  (Le  Havre, 
Lemale  et  Cie,  1875);  Ch.  Vasseur,  Etudes  historiques  et  archeologiques  sur  la  cathedrale 
de  Lisieux  (Caen,  1891);  Emile  Lambin,  "La  cathedrale  de  Lisieux,"  in  Revue  de 
Vart  chretien,  1898,  vol.  45,  p.  448;  A.  de  Caumont,  Statixtique  monumentale  du  Calvados 
(Caen,  1867),  vol.  5,  p.  200;  V.  Ruprich-Robert,  I' architecture  normande  au  Xle  ct 
XII  siecles  (Paris,  1897),  2  vols.;  II.  de  Formeville,  Histoire  de  Vancicn  enechc-comte 
de  Lisieux  (Lisieux,  1873),  2  vols.;  Histoire  littcraire  de  la  France,  vol.  14,  p.  304, 
"Arnoul,  eveque  de  Lisieux"  (Paris,  1817);  A.  Sarrazin,  Pierre  C auction,  juge  de 
Jeanne  d'Arc  (Paris.  1901).  Other  studies  of  the  judges  of  Jeanne  d'Arc,  by  Fabre 
(Paris,  1915),  and  Ch.  Engelhard  (Lc  Havre,  19(W). 

531 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Becket,  to  detach  one  by  one  the  English  bishops  from  their 
primate,  which  policy  of  divide  et  impera  came  only  too  easily 
to  an  Angevin-Anglo-Norman.  Four  times  did  Bishop  Arnoul 
journey  to  Sens  to  negotiate  for  Henry  with  the  pope,  during 
the  Becket  controversy.  Some  of  the  leading  men  of  his 
day  admired  the  prelate  of  Lisieux;  but  soundly  honest  men 
such  as  Abbot  Robert  de  Torigny  of  the  Mount,  and  the 
bishop  of  Chartres,  John  of  Salisbury,  distrusted  him  entirely 
—the  latter  remarked  on  his  political  sense  in  bestowing 
benefits  when  he  wished  to  convince  a  man  of  his  point  of  view. 

Under  Bishop  Arnoul  the  nave  of  Lisieux  rose  in  one  cam- 
paign, a  monument  severe  and  pure,  fog-colored  like  the  wintry 
sky  over  it,  say  the  townsmen.  A  note  of  force  is  imparted 
by  the  sturdy  cylindrical  piers.  There  is  a  narthex  bay  at 
the  western  end — a  Germanic  influence.  No  trace  of  vaulting 
shows  in  the  deep  gallery  over  the  aisles,  though  the  triforium 
arches  that  open  on  the  central  vessel  are  better  suited  for  a 
tribune  than  a  blind  arcade.  Behind  that  arcade  now  stands  a 
poorly  constructed  wall  opened  here  and  there  by  doors, 
reminding  us  that  once  it  was  the  custom  for  crusaders  to 
store  their  valuables  in  the  upper  galleries  of  cathedrals. 

Some  have  suggested  that  Guillaume  de  Sens  was  the  archi- 
tect of  Lisieux,  whose  resemblances  with  his  known  works 
at  Sens  and  Canterbury  are  discernible.  Lisieux  adhered 
to  the  Romanesque  tradition  of  salient  transept  arms;  that 
to  the  north  lacks  a  portal;  that  to  the  south  is  an  excellent 
example  of  plainest  Primary  Gothic.  The  transept  has  an 
eastern  aisle,  an  arrangement  found  at  Durham,  Lincoln, 
Salisbury,  and  Peterborough.  The  first  two  bays  of  the 
choir  were  built,  like  the  nave,  in  the  XII  century ;  the  birth  of 
the  apse  is  marked  by  a  staircase,  as  at  Caen,  Boscherville, 
Fecamp,  and  Eu. 

The  ample  central  tower  of  Lisieux,  not  in  the  first  plan, 
was  erected  as  the  choir  was  gradually  extended.  In  the 
later-constructed  straight  bays  of  the  choir,  and  at  the  apse, 
finished  under  Bishop  Jourdain  du  Hommet,  no  annulets 
broke  the  ascending  line  of  the  clustered  shafts,  quatrefoils 

532 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

were  cut  in  the  spandrels,  and  more  and  more  the  structure 
took  on  regional  characteristics.  Arches  were  set  under 
arches,  some  of  them  being  acutely  pointed,  because  the 
Norman  preferred  to  use  the  same  opening  of  the  compass 
for  all  his  arches,  wide  or  narrow.  It  gave  his  eye  pleasure 
to  multiply  molds,  and  his  sense  of  exactitude  craved  a  sup- 
port for  every  roll  molding.  Lisieux'  choir,  however,  avoided 
what  was  to  become  an  excessive  complication  of  parts  in 
the  Anglo-Norman  school.  The  cathedral  is  essentially 
vigorous  and  severe. 

In  1226  a  fire  necessitated  repairs,  and  Bishop  Guillaume 
de  Pont-de-1'Arche  took  the  opportunity  to  make  three  ambu- 
latory chapels.  He  built  the  facade  towers  whose  lower 
walls  retained  Romanesque  parts  of  the  XI  century.  When 
the  southwest  tower  fell  in  1553  it  was  replaced  by  one  of 
pre-Gothic  design.  The  northwest  belfry  had  as  prototype 
the  famous  one  of  St.  Pierre  at  Caen.  The  axis  chapel- 
longer  than  the  Xlll-century  one  it  replaced — is  a  gem  of 
Flamboyant  art.  On  its  walls  are  some  small  funereal  bas- 
reliefs  erected  by  the  cathedral  canons. 

The  builder  of  Lisieux'  Lady  chapel  was  Pierre  Cauchon, 
president  of  the  tribunal  that  sentenced  Jeanne  d'Arc  to 
death.  He  did  not  erect  his  chapel,  as  some  intimate,  in 
expiation  of  his  conduct  at  Rouen  in  1431,  for  he  remained 
to  the  end  the  creature  of  his  country's  invaders.  His  detes- 
tation of  Jeanne,  moreover,  was  a  personal  affair,  since  it 
had  been  her  triumph  at  Orleans,  creating  a  national  hope, 
that  put  heart  into  the  citizens  of  Beauvais  to  expel  their 
pro-English  bishop.  The  English  sent  him  to  buy  Jeanne 
from  her  captors.  After  the  happenings  in  St.  Ouen's  cem- 
etery, by  law  Jeanne  should  have  been  passed  into  the  control 
of  the  Church,  but  Cauchon  ordered  her  back  to  her  English 
prison,  and  when  she  again  donned  male  attire,  and  again 
asserted  that  she  had  heard  her  voices,  her  unscrupulous 
enemies  were  enabled  to  accuse  her  of  being  a  relapsed 
heretic  and  wanton,  to  start  a  new  trial,  and  condemn  her  to 
death.  Cauchon  himself  hastened  to  the  fortress  to  witness 

533 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Jeanne's  "relapse,"  and  with  Lord  Warwick  he  is  said  to 
have  chuckled  over  it — "This  time  she's  well  caught!"  The 
morning  that  Jeanne  was  led  to  her  execution  she  faced  Cauchon 
fearlessly:  "Bishop,  I  die  by  your  hand.  Had  I  been  placed 
in  the  prisons  of  the  Church,  this  would  never  have  happened. 
You  have  left  me  in  the  clutches  of  my  enemies.  I  call  you 
before  God,  the  great  judge,  to  answer  for  the  wrong  you 
have  done  me."  Even  as  she  so  spoke  a  spirited  statue  now 
represents  Jeanne  in  Cauchon's  Norman  cathedral,  while 
her  judge  is  a  condemned  felon  before  the  bar  of  history. 

Like  Arnoul,  builder  of  Lisieux'  nave,  Cauchon  knew  how 
to  act  a  better  part.  As  rector  of  Paris  University  he  had 
been  esteemed  for  his  learning.  But,  coming  to  the  parting 
of  the  ways,  he  chose  the  broad  and  easy  path,  and  the  rest 
followed.  His  influence  encouraged  the  University  of  Paris 
in  its  pernicious  betrayal  of  France  after  Henry  V's  invasion. 
Cauchon  won  the  see  of  Beauvais  by  defending  Jean  Sans 
Peur  of  Burgundy,  in  1407,  when  the  latter  had  murdered 
his  cousin,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,1  in  the  streets  of  Paris.  And 
in  the  same  hour  that  he  thus  truckled  for  advancement, 
Jean  Gerson,  the  chancellor  of  Paris  University,  denounced 
the  ducal  crime — destined  to  be  for  France  of  incalculable 
consequence — and  had  his  house  sacked  by  Burgundians. 

Ten  years  later,  at  the  Council  of  Constances,  in  Switzerland 
Cauchon  upheld  the  murderer,  and  Gerson  rebuked  the 
crime,  whereupon  he  felt  it  to  be  wiser  to  quit  Constances 
in  disguise  and  to  pass  his  latter  life  in  retirement.  Cauchon 
became  the  butcher  of  Jeanne  d'Arc,  his  name  forever  an 
infamy;  Gerson,  dying  in  poverty  and  defeat  at  Lyons,  was 


1  The  murdered  Duke  of  Orleans,  a  son  of  the  art-loving  Valois  king,  Charles  V, 
built  the  chateaux  of  La  Ferte-Milon,  on  the  Ourcq,  and  Pierrefonds,  in  the  forest  of 
Compiegne,  in  the  courtyard  of  which  latter  stands  his  equestrian  statue.  His  sons 
were  the  poet-duke,  Charles  d'Orleans,  and  Dunois,  his  acknowledged  bastard,  the  chief 
instrument  in  ridding  France  of  her  invaders.  Two  grandsons  of  the  builder  of  Pierre- 
fonds ascended  the  French  throne,  Louis  XII  and  Francis  I,  and  those  who  undertake 
an  architectural  journey  over  France  will  soon  become  familiar  with  the  porcupine 
of  the  one  and  the  salamander  of  the  other.  Sir  Theodore  Andreas  Cook,  Twenty-five 
Great  Houses  of  France  (New  York  and  London,  1916);  Viollet-le-Duc,  Dictionnaire 
dc  r  architecture,  on  Pierrefonds. 

534 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

thought  worthy,  during  two  centuries,  to  be  called  the  author 
of  the  Imitation  of  Christ,  and  before  he  passed  away  in  July, 
1429,  it  was  given  to  him  to  learn  that  the  Maid  had  triumphed 
at  Orleans,  and  to  testify  that  her  mission  was  of  God:  Gratia 
Dei  estensa  est  in  hac  puella;  a  Domino  factum  est  istud. 

Cauchon,  ex-bishop  of  Beauvais,  having  placed  his  learning 
and  energies  at  the  service  of  his  country's  invaders,  ambi- 
tiously hoped  to  obtain  Rouen  as  his  thirty  pieces  of  silver, 
but  the  Duke  of  Bedford  compromised  matters  by  bestowing 
on  him  the  lesser  see  of  Lisieux,  in  1432.  As  the  national 
cause  prospered  the  traitor  was  more  and  more  detested  by 
the  populace.  When  the  Burgundian  partisans  of  the  English 
were  expelled  from  Paris,  the  properties  of  the  bishop  of 
Lisieux  in  the  capital  were  seized  and  he  himself  was  mobbed. 
In  1442  he  fell  dead  suddenly  one  day  while  his  barber  was 
shaving  him.  A  few  years  later,  when  Jeanne  was  rehabil- 
itated and  her  judge  excommunicated,  the  populace  broke 
open  Cauchon's  tomb  in  the  cathedral  and  flung  his  bones 
into  the  mire.  His  successor  at  Lisieux,  Bishop  Pasquier 
de  Vaux,  also  one  of  Jeanne's  faithless  judges,  died  alone, 
deserted,  on  the  day  that  the  French  army  entered  his  city 
as  victors,  in  1449.  The  after  history  of  Lisieux  Cathedral 
followed  the  same  course  as  others  in  France;  1562  and  1793 
wrecked  its  monuments  and  smashed  its  stained  glass.  In 
the  Flamboyant  Gothic  church  of  St.  Jacques— where  not 
a  capital  breaks  the  ascending  line — are  some  XVI-century 
windows. 

Lisieux  can  boast  of  no  bishop  canonized  by  the  Church, 
but  her  citizens  are  doing  all  in  their  power  to  let  Christendom 
know  of  the  gentle  Norman  girl,  Therese  Martin,  the  "Little 
Flower,"  who  died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity  (1897)  in  the  Car- 
melite convent  of  the  town,  before  she  had  reached  her  twenty- 
fifth  year.  Her  extraordinary  cult,  especially  among  soldiers 
during  the  World  War,  proves  that  the  thirst  for  sainthood 
is  as  strong  as  ever  in  the  peoples  who  went  crusading  and 
flung  themselves  toward  heaven  in  cathedrals.  Art  springs 
from  emotions  such  as  that  felt  by  Frenchmen  for  the  "Little 

535 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Flower."  To  ignore  such  manifestations,  as  do  the  ration- 
alists who  still  are  insisting,  as  dogmatically  as  before  1914, 
that  France,  at  root,  is  the  land  of  Voltaire,  is  a  willful  shutting 
of  the  eyes  to  the  basic  forces  that  make  history. 

Those  good  people  of  Lisieux  who  are  mystic-minded,  who 
believe  in  order  that  they  may  understand,  as  Anselm  taught 
at  Bee  near  by,  as  Plato  taught  in  Greece,  feel  subconsciously 
that  their  "Little  Flower,"  who  said  that  only  after  her  death 
would  begin  her  real  mission,  is  atoning  for  Pierre  Cauchon.1 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  EVREUX2 

H  en  coute  cher  pour  devenir  la  France.  Nous  nous  plaignons,  et  non 
sans  droit,  de  nos  6preuves  et  de  nos  mecomptes.  Nos  peres  n'ont  pas  v6cu 
plus  doucement  que  nous,  ni  recueilli  plus  tot  et  a  meilleur  marche  les 
fruits  de  leurs  travaux.  II  y  a  dans  le  spectacle  de  leurs  destinies  de  quoi 
s'attrister  et  se  fortifier  a  la  fois.  L'histoire  abat  les  pretentious  impatientes 
et  soutient  les  longues  espdrances. — GUIZOT. 

The  cathedral  of  fivreux  is  not  homogeneous  like  that  of 
Lisieux,  but,  gathering  of  different  styles  though  it  is,  Roman- 
esque, Gothic,  early  and  late,  neo-classic,  it  possesses  its  own 
distinct  personality.  A  church  of  whose  choir  it  has  been  said 
by  one  so  competent  to  compare  the  cathedrals  of  his  native 


1  A  professor  in  a  Norman  college,  Joseph  Lotte,  who  fell  on  the  field  of  honor  at 
Arras,  in  December,  1914,  thus  apostrophized  the  "Little  Flower"  of  Lisieux:  "Enrolez- 
nous,   petite  sosur  celeste!     Enrolez-nous  sous  vos   bannieres.     Nous  avons   battu 
bien  des  pays,  couru  bien  des  aventures,  dissipe  bien  des  dons:  il  nous  reste  la  fidelite. 
Nous  serons  derriere  vous  les  vieux  routiers  qui  escortaient  Jeanne  d'Arc.     Notre 
France  ne  veut  pas  mourir.     Apprenez-nous  a  aimer.     II  faut  qu'un  tel  amour  monte 
de  nous  a  Dieu  qu'il  tourne  a  nouveau  sa  face  vers  notre  terre  de  France  et,  retrouvant 
son  peuple,  decide  de  le  sauver.      Mais  ne  l'a-t-il  pas  deja  decide,  puisqu'il  vous  a 
envoyee?"     P.  Pacary,  Un  compagnon  de  Peguy,  Joseph  Lotte;   pages  choisies  (Paris, 
J.  Gabalda,  1916). 

2  Congres  Archeologique,  1864,  1889,  and  1908;    Abbe  Jules  Fossey,  Monographic 
de  la  cathedrale  d'flvreux  (Evreux,  1898);   Abbe  Poree,  Les  clotures  des  chapelles  de  la 
cathedrale  d' Evreux  (Evreux,  Herissey,  1890);   A.  J.  de  H.  Bushnell,  Storied  Windows 
(New  York,  Macmillan,  1914);    N.  H.  J.  Westlake,  A  History  of  Design  in  Painted 
Glass  (London,  Parker  &  Co.,  1881);  La  Normandie  monumentale  et  pittoresque.     Eure, 
vol.  1,  p.  1,  Evreux;  p.  31,  Conches;   p.  61,  Verneuil;   p.  89,  Tillieres;  p.  93,  Nonan- 
court;  p.  119,  Vernon;  p.  147,  Les  Andelys;    p.  191,  Gisors;   vol.  2,  p.  1,  Louviers; 
p.  23,  Gaillon;  p.  97,  Pont-Audemer;  p.  63,  Pont-de-1'Arche;  p.  183,  Bernay;  p.  221, 
Bec-Hellouin;    p.  245,  Beaumont-le-Roger.     In  most  of  these  churches  the  colored 
windows  are  remarkable. 

536 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

land  as  M.  Louis  Gonse,  that  it  is  "  one  of  the  fairest  bits  of 
Gothic  architecture  in  France,"  surely  can  hold  its  own  among 
more  brilliant  companions. 

Two  Romanesque  edifices  stood  in  succession  on  the  site, 
not  to  speak  of  the  Merovingian  and  Carolingian  cathedrals 
here.  Evreux  is  the  Evora  of  Gallo-Roman  times  when  it 
was  ranked  with  Rouen  and  Tours.  St.  Patrick  came  hither 
in  432  for  his  consecration  as  bishop  before  his  apostolate  to 
Ireland.  The  first  of  the  Romanesque  cathedrals  was  dedi- 
cated in  1072  by  Archbishop  Lanfranc  of  Canterbury,  but 
in  1119,  when  Henry  I  of  England  was  besieging  the  city,  it 
was  destroyed  for  strategic  purposes,  by  consent  of  its  bishop, 
who  was  in  the  king's  camp.  Henry  and  all  his  barons  gave 
generous  compensation,  we  are  told  by  Ordericus  Vitalis,  the 
English  monk  who  spent  most  of  his  life  in  the  Norman  monas- 
tery of  St.  Evroult,  "delighting  in  obedience  and  poverty," 
writing  a  history  which  is  the  chief  XH-century  record  of 
the  duchy. 

The  second  Romanesque  cathedral  was  begun  in  1126.  To 
it  belonged  the  pier  arcade  of  the  present  nave  and  the  entire 
westernmost  bay,  as  well  as  portions  of  the  fagade  towers. 
At  one  time  it  was  thought  that  the  arches  adjacent  to  the 
transept  were  part  of  the  earlier  church  blessed  by  Lanfranc, 
inasmuch  as  they  differ  from  the  profiles  of  the  other  pier 
arches.  Further  study  has  demonstrated,  however,  that  the 
entire  arcade  belongs  to  the  XII  century,  since  it  was  not  the 
usage,  before  1120,  to  flank  a  pier's  four  faces  by  columns, 
as  was  done  here  throughout. 

The  second  Romanesque  cathedral  of  fivreux  was  also 
destined  to  be  of  short  duration.  In  1194,  Philippe-Auguste 
laid  the  city  in  ashes  as  chastisement  for  John  Lackland's 
black  deed.  John  had  allowed  a  French  garrison  into  Evreux 
during  his  intrigues  with  the  French  king,  while  Richard  the 
Lion-hearted  was  on  his  crusade.  When  word  came  that 
his  brother  was  returning  to  his  possessions,  John,  hoping 
to  placate  him  for  his  own  treachery,  invited  the  French 
garrison  of  three  hundred  to  a  feast  and,  it  is  said,  foully 

537 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

murdered  them  all.  The  bishop  of  Evreux  had  accompanied 
Richard  Cceur-de-Lion  to  the  East  and  in  Cyprus  had  crowned 
his  bride,  Berengaria  of  Navarre.  In  the  course  of  time  the 
counts  of  Evreux  became  kings  of  Navarre,  through  the  mar- 
riage of  Berengaria's  sister  to  the  Count  of  Champagne.1 
The  niece  of  Richard  and  John,  Blanche  of  Castile,  brought 
in  her  dowry  Evreux  to  the  French  Crown,  when  she 
married  (1200)  the  son  of  that  wily  augmenter,  Philippe- 
Auguste. 

The  renewal  of  the  cathedral  as  Gothic  proceeded  slowly. 
By  1230  the  nave  had  merely  reached  the  triforium  level. 
A  horizontal  sculptured  band,  such  as  surmounts  it,  was  not 
used  after  that  date.  The  clearstory  of  the  nave  is  con- 
temporary with  the  Sainte-Chapelle  in  Paris,  and  when  Louis 
IX  came  to  his  mother's  dower  city,  in  1259,  for  the  conse- 
cration of  its  bishop,  who  was  his  personal  friend,  he  and  the 
group  of  building-prelates  with  him,  from  Rheims,  Rouen, 
Coutances,  and  Seez,  must  have  discussed  the  new  works 
at  Evreux  with  interest.  The  choir  of  the  cathedral  was 
not  undertaken  till  the  close  of  the  century.  From  1298 
to  1310  it  was  built  in  a  Rayonnant  style  fully  as  advanced 
as  the  later  abbatial  of  St.  Ouen,  at  Rouen,  with  glazed  tri- 
forium, capitals  that  are  slight  bands  of  foliage,  and  pre- 
cocious prismatic  profiles.  The  only  distinctly  Norman 
trait  is  the  balustrade  of  the  triforium.  As  the  choir  was 
made  fifteen  feet  wider  than  the  nave,  its  westernmost  bay 
was  canted  to  join  the  transept,  but  the  effect  is  not  displeasing. 

The  Hundred  Years'  War  caused  a  cessation  of  works  at 
Evreux.  Dire  years  were  they  for  the  city  ruled  by  Charles 

1  The  son  of  that  union  was  the  trouvere  poet,  Th'ibaut  IV  of  Champagne  and  I 
of  Navarre,  of  which  latter  domain  he  was  chosen  king  in  1234,  on  the  death  of  his 
mother's  brother,  Sancho,  the  chief  victor  of  Las  Navas  de  Toloso.  His  niece,  Jeanne, 
inheriting  both  Champagne  and  Navarre,  united  them  with  the  royal  domain  by  her 
marriage  to  Philippe  le  Bel.  Three  of  her  sons  ruled  successively  as  kings  of  France, 
and  then  the  Valois  branch — sprung  from  a  brother  of  Philippe  le  Bel — came  to  the 
throne.  Whereupon  the  Navarrese  elected,  as  their  ruler,  the  Count  of  l5vreux, 
who  had  married  a  daughter  of  Jeanne's.  His  son  was  Charles  the  Wicked  (1319-87), 
Count  of  Evreux,  king  of  Navarre,  who  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Charles  the 
Noble  (1387-1425).  One  and  all  of  them  were  linked  with  the  architectural  story 
of  France:  at  Troyes,  Provins,  Meaux,  Mantes,  and  Evreux  Cathedral, 

538 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

le  Mauvais,  a  "demon  of  France,"  "perfidy  in  person."  He 
plotted  ceaselessly  against  the  national  party,  not  because 
he  leaned  to  the  English  side,  but  that  he  was  obsessed  by  his 
own  superior  claims  to  the  French  crown,  being  by  both 
father  and  mother  directly  of  St.  Louis'  line.  His  high  abilities 
—and  he  was  learned,  eloquent,  and  handsome — were  wasted 
in  mischief  making.  In  1365  he  gave  up  his  city  of  Evreux 
to  the  flames.  Charles  the  Wicked  is  pictured  in  the  cathe- 
dral's clearstory  windows,  in  the  fourth  on  the  north  side  of 
the  choir,  and  across  the  sanctuary  from  him,  in  another  light, 
is  his  wife,  a  Valois,  sister  of  the  French  king,  Charles  V,  and 
his  art-loving  brothers  at  Dijon,  Angers,  and  Bourges.  She 
possessed  Mantes  by  her  dower  right,  and  added  to  its  col- 
legiate church  the  Rayonnant  chapel  of  Navarre,  in  which 
are  portrait  statuettes  representing  her  daughters.  Her 
four  brothers,  says  M.  Anthyme  Saint-Paul,  were  the  para- 
mount influences  in  the  formation  of  French  Flamboyant 
Gothic,  from  1365  to  1415. 

The  best  array  of  XlV-century  glass1  in  France  is  that  of 
the  choir  of  Evreux.  The  windows  are  not  forceful,  like 
Xlll-century  medallion-mosaics,  any  more  than  the  Ray- 
onnant stonework  framing  them  resembles  hardy  Apogee 
Gothic.  The  hues,  while  limpid  and  pleasing,  show  none 
of  the  lovely  half-tones  which  the  Flamboyant-Renaissance 
day  was  to  achieve.  Large  plates  of  glass  were  employed 
in  order  that  fewer  leads  might  darken  the  window.  White 
was  overused,  as  well  as  the  recently  discovered  yellow,  called 
silver-stain,  obtained  by  fusing  the  surface  of  white  glass 
with  a  solution  of  silver.  Pot-metal  glass — that  colored  in 
the  mass — had  hitherto  been  used  exclusively.  Effective 
backgrounds  were  obtained  by  damasked  patterns.  In  each 
panel  was  a  single  figure  in  an  architectural  setting  of  grisaille 

1  In  Normandy,  glass  of  the  XIV  century  is  to  be  found  in  the  cathedrals  of  Seez 
and  Coutances,  at  Carentan,  Pont-de-1'Arclie,  Nesle-St.-Saire,  and  in  Rouen's  big 
abbatial.  Elsewhere  in  France  there  are  XlV-century  windows  at  Mantes,  Beuuvais, 
Amiens,  Dol,  Limoges,  Toulouse,  Bordeaux,  Narbonne,  Be/iers,  Carcassonne  (in 
St.  Nazaire),  Chartres  (in  St.  Pierre),  and  Poitiers  (in  Ste.  lladegonde).  In  St. 
Urbain's  at  Troyes  is  some  of  the  earliest  glass  of  this  century. 

539 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

and  silver-staiij,  which  frames  grew  so  elaborate,  by  the 
middle  of  the  century,  that  perspective  was  represented. 

The  earliest  example  of  a  canopy  type  of  window  is  in 
Evreux'  upper  choir — the  third  light  on  the  north  side.  It 
was  the  gift  of  the  grand  queux,  or  cook,  of  France,  Guillaume 
d'Harcourt,  who  died  in  1327.  The  two  windows  presented 
by  the  bishop  of  Evreux,  Bernard  Cariti  (1376-83),  show 
progress  in  architectural  backgrounds,  and  the  donor  is  drawn 
from  life.  In  the  canted  bay  of  the  choir  (north)  is  a  XV- 
century  window  of  the  Saintes  Maries,  whose  alleged  relics 
were  given  to  the  bishop  here  by  good  King  Rene  of  Anjou. 
The  window  commemorates  Normandy's  newly  acquired  free- 
dom, hence  its  portraits  of  Charles  VII,  his  son,  the  future 
Louis  XI,  and  the  seneschal  of  Normandy,  Pierre  de  Breze.  It 
is  also  a  memorial  of  the  Great  Schism  of  the  West,  ended 
by  the  Council  of  Constance,  at  which  the  bishop  of  Evreux 
was  present.  Foliate  designs  cover  the  grisaille  lights  of  the 
triforium.  The  quarries  (white,  parallel  pieces  of  glass  framed 
together  in  a  lead  pattern)  are  enlivened  by  strips  of  colored 
glass  and  heraldic  ornament. 

Louis  XI  built  the  Lady  chapel  of  fivreux,  in  whose  windows 
he  depicted  his  coronation.  In  the  lily-petals  formed  by  the 
Flamboyant  tracery  of  the  mullions  are  pictured  the  barons 
who  attended  the  king's  investing.  Instead  of  the  single 
figures  in  each  panel,  hitherto  popular,  small  groups  were 
now  set  under  the  vitrine  canopies,  and  subjects  heretofore 
unknown  in  western  iconography  appeared,  such  as  the 
Transfiguration,  the  Woman  of  Samaria,  the  Marriage  at 
Cana.  They  were  pictured  just  as  the  mystery  plays  of  the 
day  presented  them  on  the  stage.  In  the  Tree  of  Jesse,  at 
the  end  of  the  chapel,  the  new  process  of  abrasion  was  employed, 
by  which  the  color  of  flashed  glass  was  ground  away  in  places, 
and  on  the  white  surfaces  thus  exposed  were  enameled  new 
colors,  so  that  one  piece  of  glass  could  exhibit  a  variety  of 
hues.  These  windows  of  Evreux'  Lady  chapel  belong  to 
the  transition  hour  between  the  earlier  tradition  that  treated 
a  window  as  an  adjunct  of  the  architecture,  and  the  later 

540 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

tradition  that  composed  a  window  as  an  independent  painted 
picture.1 

When,  in  1441,  Evreux  opened  its  gates  joyously  to  the 
national  troops,  new  works  were  begun  in  the  cathedral. 
The  actual  Flamboyant  transept  was  substituted  for  a  decrepit 
Romanesque  structure,  whose  ground  plan  it  followed,  hence 
it  is  too  narrow  for  its  height;  seen  from  the  interior  of  the 
church,  the  octagonal  lantern  appears  cramped.  The  lace- 
work  stone  spire  of  the  crossing  was  one  of  the  first  in  the 
region.  For  sixty  years  during  the  XVI  century  two  prelates 
of  the  prominent  Tillieres  family  held  the  see;  to  Ambrose 
le  Veneur  is  due  the  superlatively  ornate  Flamboyant  north 
front  of  the  transept,  an  unanswerable  proof  that  if  Gothic 
art  was  soon  to  end  it  was  not  of  inanition  it  expired.  To 
put  the  northern  flank  of  his  church  in  accord  with  the  fagade's 
festival  of  lace  stone  he  re-dressed  the  chapels  along  nave 
and  choir.  His  nephew,  Bishop  Gabriel  le  Veneur,  under- 
took to  remake  the  west  frontispiece  in  a  style  so  neo-classic 
that  M.  Leon  Palustre,  the  historian  of  the  Renaissance, 
exclaimed,  "Pour  cette  fois  le  moyen  age  estbien  fini!"  And 
yet  only  thirty  years  separated  the  fagades  of  uncle  and 
nephew.  The  southwest  tower  has  been  left  uncrowned; 
that  to  the  northwest  is  an  imposing  heavy  mass  in  which 
is  the  sonorous  bell  of  Evreux,  called  Gros-Pierre. 


1  Normandy's  XV-century  glass,  besides  that  of  Evreux'  Lady  chapel,  can  be 
studied  at  Rouen,  in  the  cathedral,  and  the  churches  of  St.  Ouen  and  St.  Maclou,  at 
Caudebec,  Bernay,  Verneuil,  Beaumont-le-Roger,  St.  L6,  Carentan,  Falaise,  Pont- 
Audemer,  Bayeux,  and  Coutances.  Elsewhere  in  France  glass  of  this  period  can  be 
seen  in  Amiens  Cathedral,  in  the  Vendome  chapel  of  Chartres,  in  the  choir  of  Moulins, 
in  the  north  transept  of  Le  Mans,  and  the  windows  presented  to  Bourges  Cathedral 
by  the  Duke  of  Berry  and  Jacques  Cceur.  There  is  also  XV-century  glass  at  Clermont- 
Ferrand,  Eymoutiers,  Riom,  in  some  of  the  churches  of  Paris,  such  as  St.  Severin, 
and  in  Brittany,  at  Dinan,  Plelan,  Les  Iffs,  and  in  Quimper  Cathedral.  Windows  of 
the  XVI  century  abound  in  Normandy.  The  most  imposing  array  is  near  Evreux, 
at  Conches,  whose  church  of  Ste.  Foi  is  on  no  account  to  be  missed.  Aldegrevier,  a 
pupil  of  Albert  Diirer,  designed  the  seven  tall  apse  windows,  about  1520.  There 
are  eighteen  other  lights  (1540-53),  very  Raphaelesque  in  type;  the  Prcsmir  window 
and  the  apotheosis  of  the  Virgin  are  typical  of  that  heated  hour  of  controversy. 
Andre  Michel,  ed.,  Histnire  de  I' art,  vol.  4,  2"niu  partie,  "  Le  vitrail  fran(,'ais  au  XV° 
et  au  XVIC  siecle,"  Emile  Male;  A.  Bouillet,  Vcglise  Ste.  Foi  de  Conches  (Eure)  et 
ses  vitraux  (Caen,  H.  Delesque,  1889). 

541 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  SEEZ* 

H  y  a  plus  d'une  sorte  de  chevalerie,  et  les  grands  coups  de  lance  ne  sont 
pas  de  rigueur.  A  d6faut  d'6p6e,  nous  avons  la  plume;  a  deTaut  de  plume, 
la  parole;  a  d<§faut  de  parole,  1'honneur  de  notre  vie. — L£oN  GAUTIEB, 
La  Chevalerie. 

"Prudent,  modest,  and  gracious,"  reads  the  epitaph  of 
Bishop  Jean  de  Bernieres,  who,  having  in  large  part  built 
the  choir  of  Seez  Cathedral,  impressing  on  it  his  personal 
qualities,  departed  this  life  on  Holy  Thursday  of  1292.  Seez 
has  been  called  a  little  sister  of  Chartres.  It  is  well  set,  but 
of  unpretentious  dimensions.  Its  twin  spire-crowned  western 
towers  will  be  improved  when  the  masses  of  masonry  now 
propping  them  are  removed.  The  interior  is  white  and  clean, 
almost  to  prudery,  which  may  be  due  to  the  renewal  of  choir 
and  transept  in  modern  times. 

Never  from  its  inception  have  restorations  ceased  in  this 
church.  Not  that  Seez  overstepped  the  possibilities  of  Gothic 
equilibrium,  but  it  made  incautious  use  of  the  calcined  founda- 
tions of  the  Romanesque  cathedral  to  which  it  succeeded. 
That  earlier  church  had  been  erected  by  Bishop  Yves  de 
Belleme  after  two  cathedrals  had  been  wiped  out  by  the 
Norse  invasions.  Brigands  had  nested  beside  his  church, 
and  in  seeking  to  dislodge  them  he  had  set  fire  to  his  own 
sanctuary,  for  which  act  he  was  rebuked  by  Leo  IX  at  the 
Council  of  Rheims  in  1049.  He  took  as  his  penance  the 
replacing  of  the  cathedral  at  his  own  expense,  and  since  he 
was  connected  with  the  rich  Norman  princes  of  Italy  funds 
soon  poured  in.  The  edifice  he  erected  was  destroyed  in  the 

1  V.  Ruprich-Robert,  La  cathedrale  de  Seez  (Paris,  Morel,  1885);  Abbe  L.  V.  Dumaine, 
La  cathedrale  de  Seez,  son  histoire  et  ses  beautes  (Seez,  1894);  H.  Tournouer,  "  La  cathe- 
drale de  Seez,"  in  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  hist,  et  archeol.  de  VOrne,  1897;  Marais  et  Beau- 
douin,  Essai  hist,  sur  le  cathedrale  et  le  chapitre  de  Seez  (Alencon,  1878);  Robert  Triger, 
"  La  cathedrale  de  Seez,"  in  Revue  hist,  et  archeol.  du  Maine,  1900,  vol.  47,  p.  287; 
De  la  Sicotiere  et  Poulet-Malassis,  Le  departement  de  I'Orne,  archeol.  et  pittoresque 
(Laigle,  Beuzelin,  1845),  folio;  La  Normandie  monumentale  et  pittoresque.  Orne, 
p.  101,  on  Seez,  Abbe  Barret;  p.  1,  St.  Germain  at  Argentan,  with  a  central  lantern 
and  elaborate  late-Gothic  porch;  p.  41,  Notre  Dame  at  Alencpn;  p.  77,  St.  £vroult-de- 
Montfort,  a  late-XI  century  abbatial;  p.  245,  the  monastery  of  La  Trappe,  in  Seez 
diocese,  established  in  1122,  and  reformed  in  1662  by  the  noted  Abbe  de  llancy. 

542 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

unceasing  petty  wars  waged  against  each  other  by  the  husbands 
of  Alienor  of  Aquitaine. 

The  nave  of  the  actual  cathedral,  the  part  first  undertaken, 
rose  from  1220  to  1240  under  Bishop  Gervais,  a  member  of 
the  Order  of  Premontre.  After  the  pause  of  a  generation, 
its  upper  vaulting  was  constructed.  All  the  traits  loved  by 
the  Norman  are  here;  friezes  below  triforium  and  clearstory, 
balustrades,  sharp  twin  lancets  under  equilateral  arches, 
multiple  ridges  and  multiple  supports,  circular  capitals  and 
bases,  interior  passageways  contrived  skillfully.  Subdivision 
and  multiplication  of  parts  reign  supreme;  merely  for  the 
pleasure  it  gave  his  eye  the  Norman  increased  the  molds  of 
his  archivolts.  There  are  diagonals  here  of  so  generous  a 
profile  that  little  vault- web  shows.  The  Norman  was  partial 
to  shadow  decoration.  He  covered  his  walls  with  holes  cut 
into  foiled  shapes  which  lent  themselves  to  ever-changing 
contrasts  of  light  and  shade.  In  each  spandrel  of  the  main 
arcade  is  cut  an  elaborate  rosette  before  which  stands  the 
shaft  that  mounts  to  the  vault-springing.  No  Ile-de-France 
architect  had  thus  obstructed  his  pierced  ornament. 

The  choir  of  Seez  was  begun  soon  after  the  nave,  but  about 
1270  was  entirely  reconstructed  as  a  Rayonnant  vessel,  de- 
signed audaciously  to  weigh  as  little  as  possible  on  defective 
foundations.  The  sanctuary  was  raised  above  the  ambulatory, 
with  no  screen  between.  The  capitals  were  slight.  Here 
again  appeared  a  trait  of  Norman  redundancy — rain-guards 
or  weather-drips  over  the  main  arches  and  the  wall  arcading; 
an  Ile-de-France  master  had  relegated  such  crocketed  gables 
where  they  belong — to  the  exterior  walls  of  a  church. 

Like  Evreux,  Seez  Cathedral  possesses  a  uniform  array  of 
XlV-century  glass.  Above  and  below  the  canopied  figures 
in  the  clearstory  lights  are  panels  of  grisaille.  The  triforium 
was  among  the  first  to  become  one  composition  with  the 
upper  windows,  by  means  of  stone  mullions;  its  quarry 
designs  are  bordered  with  strips  of  colored  glass.  The  tran- 
sept, built  from  1290  to  1330,  has  in  its  side  walls  excellent 
images  of  the  prophets.  Its  roses  are  linked  by  mullions 

543 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

with  the  row  of  windows  below;  the  north  rose  traces  a  star 
with  rays.  In  1373  a  fire  damaged  the  edifice,  and  its  recon- 
struction continued  through  the  foreign  wars.  The  Bishop 
of  Seez,  Robert  de  Rouvre,  proved  loyal  to  the  national  cause 
and  quitted  his  city  for  the  wandering  court  of  Charles  VII, 
rather  than  take  oath  to  Henry  V.  This  patriotic  Norman 
prelate  knew  Jeanne  d'Arc,  not  at  her  trial  at  Rouen,  but  in 
her  triumphal  hour  of  the  coronation  at  Rheims. 

The  cathedral  of  Seez  was  twice  pillaged  during  the  religious 
wars.  The  Huguenots  tore  the  lead  from  the  roofs,  and  piled 
the  art  treasures  in  the  aisles  for  bonfires.  One  doubly  regrets 
the  loss  of  the  nave's  windows  which  would  have  completed 
the  coherent  scheme  of  color  decoration  that  distinguishes 
the  church.  Seez  was  neglected  for  centuries,  its  decrepitude 
becoming  such  that  the  priests  at  its  altars  were  inconvenienced 
by  wind  and  rain,  and  not  so  inconsequent,  after  all,  then 
seemed  the  interior  weather-guards.  The  much  criticized 
restoration  of  M.  Ruprich-Robert  was  a  necessity,  even 
though  it  may  have  been  too  radical. 

Of  the  six  Norman  cathedrals,  that  of  Seez  is  the  least 
known,  yet  it  lies  but  a  few  miles  beyond  Falaise,  visited  by 
most  travelers  in  Normandy.  In  the  streets  of  the  Con- 
queror's birthplace  they  still  sing,  "Vive  le  fils  d'Arlette, 
Normans,  vive  le  fils  d'Arlette!"  A  statue  of  William  faces  the 
Trinite  in  which  parish  he  was  baptized  (1027).  The  XIII 
century  built  the  Trinite's  transept,  the  XVI  century  its  choir 
(beneath  which  passes  a  street) ,  and  the  Renaissance  appears  in 
a  porch  of  faultless  taste.1  The  donjon  of  the  castle  belongs  to 
the  XII  century,  though  the  guides  will  point  out  a  window 
whence  Duke  Robert  the  Magnificent  first  beheld  the  maid 
Arlette. 

1  St.  Gervais,  at  Falaise,  has  a  good  Romanesque  tower  consecrated  in  the  presence 
of  Henry  I  of  England.  The  nave's  southern  pier  arcade  is  Romanesque,  but  the 
arches  on  the  north  side  were  reconstructed  as  Gothic  at  the  same  time  that  the  vaults 
were  redone  during  the  XIII  century.  See  Congres  Archeologique,  1848,  1864,  and 
1908,  p.  367;  Louis  Regnier,  "  Falaise  et  la  vallee  d'Auge,"  in  Annuaire  normand, 
1892;  Langevin,  Recherches  historiques  sur  Falaise;  Meriel,  Hist,  de  Falaise  (1889); 
Black,  Normandy  and  Picardy,  Their  Castles,  Churches,  and  Footprints  of  William  the 
Conqueror. 

544 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  BAYEUX ' 

Mais  c'est  toujours  la  France,  ou  petite  ou  plus  grande 
Le  pays  des  beaux  bles  et  des  encadrements, 
Le  pays  de  la  grappe  et  des  ruisslements, 
Le  pays  de  genets,  de  bruyere,  de  lande. 

— CHARLES  PEGITY. 

In  the  cathedrals  of  Rouen,  Lisieux,  and  fivreux,  the  Norman 
traits  are  subordinate  to  those  of  the  Ile-de-France;  at  Seez 
all  is  Norman,  and  altogether  Norman,  too,  are  Bayeux  and 
Coutances,  the  gems  of  the  duchy's  Gothic  school.  The 
cathedral  of  Bayeux  stands  on  the  site  of  one  burned  in  1046. 
After  that  fire  Bishop  Hugues  began  a  Romanesque  cathedral 
which  was  continued  by  his  successor,  Odo  de  Conteville,  a 
half  brother  of  the  Conqueror.  The  fair  Arlette,  the  tanner's 
daughter  of  Falaise,  after  the  death  of  Duke  Robert  the 
Magnificent,  was  joined  in  lawful  wedlock  with  a  Norman 
baron.  Her  son,  Odo,  without  the  slightest  vocation,  was 
made  a  bishop  at  seventeen — precisely  the  feudal  debasing 
of  the  priesthood  which  Gregory  VII  was  combating.  At 
the  battle  of  Hastings,  when  he  had  blessed  the  troops,  he 
sprang  to  his  charger  and  led  the  cavalry.  A  XH-century 
canon  of  Bayeux,  Robert  Wace,  in  his  rimed  history  of  the 
Norman  dukes,  the  Roman  de  Ron,  tells  how,  at  Hastings, 
the  Norman  minstrel,  Taillefer,  "famed  for  song,  mounted 
on  a  charger  strong,  rode  on  before,  awhile  he  sang  of  Roland 
and  of  Charlemagne,  Oliver  and  the  vassals  all,  who  fell  in 
fight  at  Roncevals." 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1853  and  1908,  vol.  1,  p.  145;  Henri  Prentout,  Caen  et 
Bayeux  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  H.  Laurens);  Abbe  Lelieve,  Bayeux, 
la  cathedrale,  les  eglises  (Bayeux,  Deslandes,  1907);  Jean  Vallery-Radot,  La  cathedrale 
de  Bayeux,  These:  ficole  des  chartes  (1911);  De  Dion  et  Lesvignes,  La  cathedrale 
de  Bayeux  (Paris,  A.  Morel  et  Cie,  1861);  Rev.  R.  S.  Mylne,  The  Cathedral  of  Bayeux 
(London,  1904);  Chigouesnel,  Iliatoire  de  Bayeux  (1867);  Paul  de  Farcy,  Abbayes 
du  diocese  de  Bayeux  (Laval,  1886-88),  3  vols.  (on  Cerisy-la-Foret,  etc.);  Arcisse 
de  Caumont,  StatiMique  monumentale  du  Calvados  (Caen,  F.  Le  Blanc-IIardel,  1898); 
G.  Bouet,  "  Clochers  du  diocese  de  Bayeux,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  vol.  17,  p.  196; 
vol.  23,  p.  362;  vol.  25,  1859,  p.  465;  vol.  49,  p.  465;  Engerand,  "  La  sculpture  romane 
en  Normandie,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1904;  Ilistoire  liitcraire  de  la  France,  vol. 
13,  p.  518,  "  Robert  Wace,  chanoine  de  Bayeux,  historien-poete";  V.  Bourrienne, 
in  Revue  catholique  dc  Normandie,  on  the  bishops  Odo  de  Conteville  and  Philippe 
d'llareourt,  vii  to  x,  xviii  to  xxiii. 

545 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

As  governor  of  Kent,  Bishop  Odo  deepened,  by  his  injustices, 
the  hate  of  the  dispossessed  Anglo-Saxons  for  their  new  masters. 
On  an. excursion  against  Durham  he  so  harried  the  country- 
side that  it  lay  waste  for  a  hundred  years.  When  to  his 
misgovernment  was  added  the  folly  of  grandeur — for  this 
unbalanced  feudal  bully  intrigued  to  wear  the  papal  tiara, 
to  succeed  to  the  great-hearted  champion  against  iniquity, 
Gregory  VII — his  brother,  William,  thought  it  best  to  shut 
him  up.  From  1047  to  1096  Odo  held  the  see  of  Bayeux. 
The  Romanesque  cathedral  which  he  completed  was  blessed 
in  the  presence  of  William  the  Conqueror  and  Matilda,  in 
1077,  on  which  occasion  the  bishop  presented  to  his  church 
a  candelabrum  such  as  can  be  seen  at  Hildersheim.  Bayeux' 
crown  of  light  hung  from  the  high  vaults  until  wrecked  by  the 
Calvinists  in  1562. 

Of  the  cathedral  built  by  this  anomalous  prelate  very  little 
remains.  The  crypt  is  of  his  time,  parts  of  the  outer  walls, 
and  the  body  of  the  west  towers  in  their  lower  halls;  their 
upper  stories  were  re-dressed  later.  The  crypt  was  forgotten 
till  1412,  when,  in  digging  for  a  certain  bishop's  tomb  they 
unearthed  it.  Odo's  cathedral  was  in  part  destroyed  in  1106 
when  Bayeux  was  beseiged  and  burned  by  Henry  I  of  England. 
Another  fire  in  1160  made  rebuilding  imperative,  and  even 
before  the  latter  disaster  Bishop  Philippe  d'Harcourt  (1142- 
62)  had  begun  a  new  Romanesque  church.  To  it  belonged 
the  core  of  the  actual  transept-crossing's  piers  and  the  lower 
part  of  the  nave,  which  is  considered  the  richest  Romanesque1 
work  extant.  The  flat  wall  above  the  pier  arcade  is  covered 
with  geometric  designs,  interlacings,  and  chevrons.  The 
curious  carved  disks,  in  the  spandrels  of  the  arches,  represent 
Oriental  animals  and  the  grotesques  that  are  to  be  found  in 
Celtic  illuminations.  Some  have  thought  that  the  exotic 


1  The  term  Romanesque  was  put  into  usage  by  the  archaeologist,  Arcisse  de  Caumont 
(1802-73),  to  whom  Bayeux  has  erected  a  statue.  He  also  originated  the  useful  term 
"Flamboyant."  His  Norman  Society  of  Antiquarians  was  a  pioneer  in  the  study  of 
mediaeval  monuments.  Another  son  of  Bayeux,  honored  by  a  statue,  is  the  poet, 
Alain  Chartier  (1386-1449),  who  lived  to  see  his  master,  Charles  VII,  the  conqueror 
of  Normandy. 

546 


The  Choir  of  Bayeaux  Cathedral  (1210-1260).     Typical 
of  Normandy's  Elaborate  Gothic 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

sculptures  of  Bayeux  derived  directly  from  an  ivory  coffer, 
of  the  IV-century  Hegira,  brought  home  by  crusaders  for 
the  treasury  of  their  cathedral.  Oriental  Byzantium  was 
their  common  origin. 

The  choir  of  Bayeux  is  a  masterpiece  of  Norman  Gothic 
erected  by  Robert  des  Ableges  (1206-31),  who  died  a  crusader, 
and  by  the  two  successive  bishops.  In  the  nave  those  prelates 
surmounted  the  Romanesque  lower  walls  with  Gothic  windows 
and  vaulting;  a  balustrade  marks  the  division  between  the 
dissimilar  parts.  They  reinforced  the  fagade  towers,  and 
made  five  western  doorways — although  the  church  behind 
possessed  only  three  aisles. 

The  student  who  would  comprehend  at  a  glance  the  differ- 
ence between  the  aesthetic  equipoise  of  the  Ile-de-France 
and  the  sumptuous  Gothic  of  Normandy  can  do  nothing 
better  than  to  place  side  by  side  the  pictures  of  Bayeux' 
choir  and  the  curving  transept  end  of  Soissons.  Those  whose 
taste  has  been  formed  by  English  minsters  may  prefer  Bayeux, 
those  whose  loiterings  have  made  them  familiar  with  the 
cradle-land  of  the  national  art  of  France  will  find  their  ideal 
in  the  classic  restraint  of  Soissons.  Scarcely  a  square  foot  of 
Bayeux'  choir  is  unadorned.  Each  spandrel  is  pierced  by 
trefoils  and  quatrefoils,  and  at  the  apse  the  triforium  spandrels 
are  entirely  covered  with  foliage.  There  are  acutely  pointed 
arches,  and  arches  under  arches.  Mold  has  been  added  to 
mold,  and  each  roll  molding  has  its  own  colonnette.  There 
are  carved  friezes  at  different  levels,  and  the  horizontal  line 
is  still  further  accentuated  by  balustrades.  At  the  sanctuary 
curve  double  pillars  stand  one  behind  the  other.  Even  the 
vault  web  is  decorated  with  the  portraits  of  bishops.  As 
the  choir  surmounts  Odo  de  Conteville's  crypt  it  is  raised 
above  the  procession  path.  Some  of  its  side  chapels  open, 
one  on  the  other,  above  a  dividing  wall,  as  in  the  Gothic 
choir  of  the  Abbaye-aux-Hommes  at  Caen,  an  arrangement 
repeated  with  beautiful  effect  at  Coutances.  At  the  birth 
of  the  apse  are  turrets;  there  are  corner  towerettes  with 
staircases  on  each  of  the  western  belfries. 

547 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

The  Norman  fagade,  as  a  rule,  is  very  plain,  lacking  rose 
window  and  galleries,  and  with  undeveloped  portals.  Two 
marked  stories  usually  divide  it — that  of  the  entranceway 
and  the  big  window  story  over  it.  Often  the  towers  are 
disengaged  awkwardly  from  the  massive,  nor  is  the  transition 
from  shaft  to  pyramid  accomplished  with  subtlety.  Yet 
the  Norman  church  has  great  compensations  to  offer.  Few 
edifices  in  the  classic  region  of  the  Oise,  Seine,  and  Marne 
present  a  more  complete  exterior  than  this  chief  church  of 
Bayeux  that  stands  so  proudly  over  the  flat  little  city,  unen- 
cumbered by  houses,  raised  on  a  dignified  platform  where 
the  ground  slopes  to  the  east. 

The  cathedral's  transept  is  Rayonnant  Gothic  of  the  XIV 
century,  in  which  day  were  added  the  various  side  chapels 
whose  tracery  is  geometric.  When  Jeanne  d'Arc  had  given 
France  a  new  soul,  Bayeux  raised  its  lordly  central  tower 
"to  praise  God  in  the  sky."  It  was  undertaken  by  a  wealthy 
prelate,  Louis  d'Harcourt  (d.  1479),  of  the  same  family  as 
the  bishop  who  had  built  the  Romanesque  wall  of  the  nave. 
He  planted  his  Flamboyant  octagon  on  the  square  XIII- 
century  lantern,  but  the  actual  top  story  of  the  transept- 
crossing  tower  is  modern.  Bayeux  almost  lost  her  notable 
beacon  in  the  XIX  century,  when  fissures  appeared,  and  a 
zealous  restorer  thought  to  demolish  it  whereas  all  that 
was  needed  was  consolidation.  The  ancient  Romanesque 
piers  at  the  four  corners  of  the  croisee  were  found  incased  in 
XHI-century  masonry. 

Opposite  the  cathedral  in  the  town  library  is  an  invaluable 
historical  document,  the  Bayeux  Tapestry,1  the  oldest  extant 
large  amount  of  the  art  of  design  in  the  mediaeval  centuries. 
Many  a  vicissitude  it  has  had:  lost  from  view  till  Mont- 
faucon,  the  learned  Benedictine  of  St.  Maur's  reform,  un- 
earthed it  in  1720,  and  again,  during  the  Revolution's  disor- 


1  A.  Leve,  La  tapisserie  de  Bayeux  (Paris,  H.  Laurens,  1919);  Hilaire  Belloc,  The 
Bayeux  Tapestry  (London  and  New  York,  1914);  J.  R.  Fowke,  The  Bayeux  Tapestry 
(London,  G.  Bell,  1898);  Lefebvre  des  Mouettes,  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1912,  p. 
213;  1903,  p.  84. 

548 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

ders,  used  as  covering  for  ammunition  carts  till  an  enlightened 
citizen  redeemed  it.  Originally  it  comprised  one  seamless 
piece,  just  sufficient  to  encircle  the  nave  of  Bayeux  Cathedral, 
for  which,  indubitably,  it  was  made.  Every  summer  solstice, 
on  the  dedication  day  of  Odo's  church,  it  adorned  the  cathe- 
dral, "the  toilet  of  St.  John,"  it  was  named,  a  very  simple 
toilet,  for,  though  called  a  tapestry,  it  is  really  a  drab  linen 
band  twenty  inches  wide,  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long, 
with  the  design  alone  worked  in  worsted  of  eight  colors. 

The  scheme  is  the  perjury  of  Harold  and  its  punishment, 
hence  its  suitableness  as  an  embroidery  for  a  church.  It 
begins  with  Harold  and  ends  with  his  death  at  Hastings.  His 
oath  of  allegiance  to  William,  given  at  Bayeux,  is  pictured. 
Odo  is  shown  saving  the  Normans  from  retreat  at  the  battle 
of  Hastings.  Some  have  thought  he  would  not  have  dared 
to  glorify  himself  till  after  the  death  of  his  brother,  William. 
The  tapestry  was  made,  probably,  from  1067  to  1077,  imme- 
diately following  the  successful  conquest  of  England,  and 
is  a  contemporary,  therefore,  of  the  Chanson  de  Roland,  com- 
posed by  a  Norman  anterior  to  the  First  Crusade.  The 
embroidery  was  done  before  1085,  since  the  Conqueror's 
seals  of  that  date  show  armor  similar  to  that  pictured  in  the 
canvas;  the  sequence  of  the  scenes  indicates  they  are  sub- 
sequent to  Wace's  poem  (c.  1160). 

Critics  have  thought,  from  the  inscriptions,  that  Anglo- 
Saxons  made  the  tapestry.  It  is  known  that  the  textile  art 
flourished  in  Kent,  the  province  ruled  by  Odo;  in  Normandy, 
too,  the  industry  was  popular.  M.  Leve,  in  the  most  recent 
monograph  of  this  precious  legacy  from  the  past,  contends 
that  a  Norman  who  was  favorable  to  William  the  Conqueror 
made  it,  and  that  the  popular  attribution  to  Queen  Matilda 
is  not  unlikely.  She  may  have  had  the  work  done  as  a  gift  for 
Bayeux  Cathedral  while  Odo  was  still  in  royal  favor.  The  war- 
like bishop  died  as  a  crusader  journeying  East,  and  lies  buried 
in  Palermo  Cathedral.  The  people  despised  Odo,  and  would 
openly  mock  as  he  passed,  "Fie  on  the  bishop  who  married 
adulterous  King  Philip  to  adulterous  Bertrada  de  Montfort." 

549 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

A  century  after  Harold's  oath  to  Duke  William,  in  Bayeux, 
and  in  the  same  hunting-seat,  at  Bures,  near  the  city,  occurred 
a  scene  of  passion  whose  consequences  were  momentous. 
Bishop  Henri  de  Beaumont  was  at  work  on  the  cathedral's 
transept  and  upper  nave  when  Henry  II  came  to  Bayeux  to 
spend  the  Christmas  season  of  1170.  For  seven  years  western 
Christendom  had  watched  his  feud  with  the  exiled  primate 
of  Canterbury.  The  lesser  people  of  France  and  England 
considered  that  the  prelate  defended  their  liberties  by  his 
defense  of  church  liberty.  For  how,  they  asked,  can  a  church- 
man rebuke  lay  injustices  if  he  owes  his  position  to  the  very 
culprits  he  should  censure? 

A  pretense  of  reconciliation  between  Henry  and  his  whilom 
intimate  had  recently  been  brought  about.  Becket  felt  its 
hollowness,  since  none  knew  better  than  he  that  the  Angevin 
monarch's  besetting  sin  was  duplicity  and  a  merciless  vin- 
dictiveness  when  his  will  was  successfully  crossed.  As  he 
parted  with  the  king  he  had  looked  steadily  at  him,  saying, 
with  meaning:  "I  think  I  shall  never  see  you  again,"  and 
Henry  Plantagenet  had  cried,  vehemently,  "Do  you  take 
me  for  a  traitor?"  Soon  after  word  was  brought  to  the  king 
that  Becket,  newly  arrived  in  England,  was  again  stirring  up 
difficulties.  Henry  flew  into  one  of  his  madman  passions 
hereditary  in  his  blood  from  Fulk  Nerra,  from  the  Conqueror, 
too;  frenzied  words  broke  from  him,  their  purport  being  the 
upbraiding  of  his  followers  that  he  lacked  a  friend  to  rid  him 
of  this  upstart  priest.  Immediately  four  of  his  courtiers 
started  for  England,  and  as  December  of  1170  closed,  Can- 
terbury Cathedral  was  the  scene  of  a  bloody  assassination. 

Becket  dead  was  more  formidable  than  Becket  alive. 
Frightened  by  the  indignation  roused  by  the  murder,  Henry 
conceded  what  the  primate  had  contended  for.  The  Can- 
terbury martyr  became  a  frequent  theme  with  the  mediaeval 
artist.  At  Coutances,  Chartres,  Angers,  and  Sens  are  me- 
dallion windows  that  relate  his  story.  Twice  he  is  honored 
in  Bayeux  Cathedral,  in  the  sculpture  of  the  southern  portal 
and  in  a  window  of  the  transept.  The  popular  voice  of 

550 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

Europe  canonized  St.  Thomas,  and  his  grave  at  Canterbury 
became  the  loadstone  of  an  international  pilgrimage.  The 
XlV-century  poet  has  related  how  Merrie  England  rode 
down  to  Kent  in  the  first  spring  days,  when  that  Aprille  with 
his  shoures  sweet  hath  pierced  to  the  root  the  drought  of 
Marche,  and  with  the  new-liveried  year  the  wanderlust  awakes: 

Then  longen  folk  to  goon  on  pilgrimages  .  .  . 

And  specially,  from  every  shires  ende 

Of  Englelond,  to  Caunterbury  they  wende, 

The  holy  blisful  martir  for  to  seke 

That  hem  hath  holpen,  whan  that  they  were  seke.1 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  COUTANCES 2 

Art  is  the  stammering  of  man  driven  from  his  terrestrial  Paradise  but 
not  yet  arrived  at  the  heavenly  Paradise.  Ever  has  he  recalled,  ever  will 
he  recall,  the  lost  beauty.  He  is  fallen:  beauty's  sanctuary  is  shut  to  him,  but 
the  exile  traces  a  sketch  of  his  original  home  in  the  strange  land  where  he 
finds  himself.  Does  not  art  fill  in  the  intellectual  life  the  same  place  that 
hope  does  in  the  moral?  Art  is  man's  trial  to  embody  his  ideals,  it  is  a 
presentiment  and  a  souvenir. — ERNEST  HELLO,  Philosophic  et  Atheisme. 

If  the  exterior  aspect  of  Bayeux  is  admirable,  that  of  Cou- 
tances  Cathedral  is  superb.  The  high  hill  of  the  town  is  its 
pedestal.  Few  architectural  views  in  France  are  finer  than 
the  silhouette  of  Coutances  against  the  sky.  And  when  its 
•crowning  cathedral  is  seen  rising  from  a  mist,  it  appears  to 
ride  the  clouds  like  a  mighty  ship— a  vision  of  Norman  energy 
as  memorable  as  the  Mount  of  the  Archangel  off  this  very 
coast,  in  the  bay  of  St.  Michael. 

As  the  archives  of  Coutances  Cathedral  were  destroyed  by 

1  Chaucer,  Canterbury  Tales,  "  Prologue." 

2  Congres  Archeologique,  1883;    and  1908,  p.  247,  "  La  cathedrale  de  Coutances," 
E.  Lefevre-Pontalis,  also  published  separately  by  II.  Dclcsqucs,  Caen,  1910;    Abbe 
E.  H.  Pigeon,  Histoire  de  la  cathedrale  de  Coutances  (Coutances,  Salette  fils,  1876); 
Alfred  Ramee,  "  Cathedrale  de  Coutances,"  in  Revue  dcs  Soc.  Savantes,  1880,  p.  94; 
A.  de  Dion,  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1884,  vol.  50,  p.  620;    1865,  p.  509,  G.  Bouet; 
1872,  p.  19,  Regnault;  Gabriel  Fleury,  in  Revue  .  .  .  archcol.  du  Maine,  1909,  on  the 
architect,  Thomas  Toustain;  Regnault,  Revue  monumcntale  et  hixtoriquc  de  Uarrondissc- 
mcnt  de  Coutances  (St.  L6, 1860);  C.  de  Gerville,  "  Recherches  sur  les  ubbayes  de'  la 
Manche,"  in  Mem.  de  la  Soc.  des  Antiquaires  dc  Normandie,  vol.  2,  p.  77;  ibid.,  Etudes 
geographiques  et  historiques  sur  le  department  dc  la  Manche  (Cherbourg,  1854). 

551 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

the  Huguenots,  documentary  proof  of  its  date  is  lacking. 
Midway  in  the  XIX  century  even  serious  students  contended 
that  this  Apogee  Gothic  edifice  was  the  church  dedicated  in 
1056  by  a  hero  of  Hastings'  battle,  Bishop  Geoffrey  de  Mow- 
bray.  Like  Odo  of  Bayeux,  the  sword,  not  the  crozier,  should 
have  been  his  emblem.  He  was  the  holder  of  two  hundred 
lordships.  He  it  was  who,  in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  1066, 
mounting  a  tribune,  asked  the  cowed  Anglo-Saxons  if  they 
would  consent  that  Duke  William  of  Normandy  assume  the 
title,  king  of  England,  and  the  next  day  an  enormous  tax  was 
imposed  on  the  conquered  race  as  "joyous  tribute"  to  their 
new  rulers.  Geoffrey  gave  up  residence  in  his  Norman  see 
to  be  castillan  of  Bristol,  but,  taking  part  in  Odo's  intrigues, 
he  was  driven  from  the  country  with  the  cry,  "Gallows  for 
the  bishop!" 

This  ambitious  baron-prelate  obtained  donations  for  his 
Romanesque  cathedral  when  he  journeyed  in  southern  Italy 
and  the  East,  where  ruled  his  Norman  kinsmen.  When  the 
archaeologists  Bouet,  A.  de  Dion,  and  Abbe  Pigeon  found 
parts  of  Geoffrey's  church  englobed  in  the  present  nave  and 
fagade  of  Coutances,  the  heated  controversy  over  the  date 
of  the  cathedral  ceased.  The  core  of  each  fagade  tower  is 
Bishop  Geoffrey's,  as  are  some  of  the  piers  in  transept  and 
nave,  and  the  nave's  upper  wall  (re-dressed  as  Gothic  about 
1230).  The  tribune  of  the  fighting  bishop  lies  unused  behind 
the  present  triforium,  whose  wall  arcades  plainly  show  a 
succession  of  transformations. 

The  Romanesque  cathedral  was  injured  by  fire  in  1218. 
Bishop  Bivien  de  Champagne  planned  a  new  church  which 
his  successor,  Hugues  de  Morville  (1208-38),  started.  That 
prelate,  and  his  two  successors,  built  the  choir  with  its  double 
aisles  of  different  height,  and  the  central  tower  carried  on 
triumphal  piers  of  multiple  molds.  "Wliat  inspired  idiot 
dared  fling  those  stones  toward  the  sky!"  exclaimed  the  great 
engineer,  Vauban,  before  the  lantern  of  Coutances.  The 
transfused  gentle  light  that  falls  from  its  windows  tranquilizes 
the  entire  church.  Even  the  laic-haunted  Viollet-le-Duc 

552 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

likened  it  to  St.  Christopher  bearing  the  Christ  Child  before 
an  image  of  the  Virgin,  in  her  honor.  Joinville  would  have 
called  it  prayer  in  action. 

The  Deus  absconditus  impression  conveyed  by  the  mystical 
choir  of  Coutances  is  another  of  its  ravishing  qualities.  As 
at  Bourges  and  Le  Mans,  the  inner  aisle  is  so  high  that  it 
possesses  its  own  triforium  and  clearstory;  however,  it  avoided 
the  stunted  aspect  of  Bourges'  main  clearstory  by  omitting 
the  triforium  altogether  in  the  central  vessel.  The  choir 
of  Coutances  has  retained  more  of  the  warmth  of  atmosphere 
that  induces  piety  of  soul  than  any  other  Norman  cathedral, 
save  that  of  Rouen.  Not  mere  brilliant  talent,  but  genius 
and  faith,  built  it.  It  is  almost  triple-aisled,  inasmuch  as 
columns  were  planted  in  the  outer  aisle  slightly  before  the 
walls  that  divide  the  radiating  chapels.  Throughout  the 
church  are  these  lesser  arrangements  that  charm — such,  the 
opening  of  the  nave's  chapels,  one  on  the  other  above  the 
dividing  walls.  The  ends  of  the  transept  have  tribunes  like 
many  Romanesque  churches  of  the  duchy.  There  are  the 
usual  Norman  characteristics  of  a  double-walled  clearstory 
with  different  tracery  in  each  wall,  friezes  of  sculptured  foliage, 
balustrades,  acutely  pointed  arches,  pierced  ornament,  and 
a  generous  multiplication  of  molds,  each  with  its  own  support. 

Two  architects  designed  the  church;  one  made  the  nave 
and  the  other — thought  by  M.  Lefevre-Pontalis  to  be  the 
same  Thomas  Toustain  who  planned  the  apse  of  Le  Mans 
Cathedral — constructed  the  choir,  lantern,  transept,  and 
perhaps  the  spires  of  the  western  towers.  Under  Bishop 
Jean  d'Essay  (1251-74)  the  cathedral  was  finished.  Louis 
IX  was  the  guest  of  that  prelate  when  he  came  to  render 
thanks  at  the  national  shrine  of  St.  Michael  for  his  safe  return 
from  Palestine. 

The  west  facade  of  Coutances  is  very  Norman:  plain 
portals,  no  rose  window,  and  a  staircase  on  a  corner  of  each 
belfry.  The  lines  of  the  towers  rise  uncrossed  by  horizontal 
bar  from  ground  to  tapering  point.  "Ponder  them  well," 
old  Villard  de  Honnecourt  would  have  said  before  the  faithful 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

sentinel  towers  of  Coutances,  that  seem  planted  "like  the 
spear  of  a  man-at-arms."  This  severe  church  front  was  not 
meant  for  romance  like  the  fagade  of  foreign-trading  Rouen, 
or  for  royal  pageants  like  that  of  wine-growing  Rheims.  The 
basic  forces  that  lead  to  architectural  character  were  different 
here.  Northern  men  in  an  outpost  of  France  facing  the 
dangers  of  the  sea,  built  the  fagade  of  Coutances,  men  who 
had  won  this  province  by  the  sword,  who  with  the  sword 
were  seekers  for  new  conquests  to  the  north,  to  the  south. 
Taken  with  the  central  tower,  the  belfries  of  Coutances  com- 
pose an  unequaled  group.  The  apse  exterior  is  equally 
admirable;  the  flying  buttresses,  as  at  Notre  Dame,  at  Paris, 
clear  both  aisles  of  the  choir  by  a  single  hardy  leap. 

The  adventurers  of  Normandy  who  made  the  brilliant,  if 
ephemeral,  kingdoms  of  Apulia,  Sicily,  and  Antioch,  were 
the  sons  and  grandsons  of  a  Norman  knight  called  Tancred 
de  Hauteville,1  whose  manor  lay  not  far  from  Coutances. 
The  people  have  chosen  to  call  certain  statues  on  their  cathe- 
dral's northern  outer  wall  by  the  names  of  Roger  and  Robert 
de  Hauteville,  and  their  descendants  of  the  next  generation — 


1  Near  Hauteville-sur-mer  are  the  ruins  of  Hambye  Abbey,  whose  destruction  was 
an  irreparable  loss  for  art,  since  its  church  was  Primary  Gothic.  On  the  road  from 
Coutances  to  Cherbourg  is  the  abbatial  of  Lessay  (a  contemporary  of  St.  fitienne 
at  Caen),  said  by  M.  Arcisse  de  Caumont  to  be  one  of  the  purest  models  of  Norman 
Romanesque,  an  austere  monument  of  the  Xl-century  type.  Differences  in  the  pier's 
profiles  show  where,  in  the  nave,  the  XII  century  resumed  work.  In  this  latter  period 
Gothic  ribs  were  prepared  for  from  the  planting  of  the  piers,  but  the  actual  diagonals 
of  the  nave  were  built  in  the  XIII  century.  Mr.  John  Bilson  claims  that  the  Gothic 
ribs  of  the  two  sections  preceding  the  apse  are  of  the  XI  century,  which  again  brings 
up  the  controversy  of  priority  in  the  use  of  diagonals. 

The  Cistercian  church  of  La  Blanche  at  Mortain  was  another  abbatia)  of  the  Manche, 
dedicated  in  1206.  At  Cerisy-la-Foret  the  abbey  church  was  begun  (c.  1130)  by  the 
Fecamp  school  of  William  of  Volpiano,  continued  by  Duke  Robert  the  Magnificent, 
and  finished  by  his  son  William  the  Conqueror.  The  nave  was  built  from  west  to  east 
in  the  last  quarter  of  the  XI  century,  the  apse  slightly  after  1100,  the  actual  vaulting 
a  century  later.  The  religious  wars  and  the  Revolution  sacked  the  abbatial;  in  1811 
its  demolition  was  still  going  on. 

Congres  Archeologique,  1908,  p.  242,  "  Lessay,"  Lefevre-Pontalis;  p.  553,  "  Cerisy- 
la-Foret,"  Andre  Rhein;  Congres  Archeologique,  1860,  on  Cherbourg;  La  Normandie 
monumentale  et  pittoresque.  Manche,  p.  173,  "Lessay";  p.  1,  "St.  L6";  p.  51,  "Caren- 
tan";  p.  73,  "Cerisy-la-Foret";  p.  153,  "Hambye";  R.  Le  Conte,  Etudes  hist,  et 
archeol.  sur  les  abbayes  bSnedictines  en  general,  et  sur  celle  de  Hambye  en  particulier 
(Bernay,  1890). 

554 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

Bohemund,  who  used  the  Holy  Wars  to  push  his  own  fortunes, 
and  his  cousin,  Tancred,  the  idealist  of  the  First  Crusade. 
Probably  the  "Tancred"  statues — which  now  are  restora- 
tions—were intended  by  the  XIH-century  sculptors  for 
Hebrew  kings.  In  the  southern  kingdoms  founded  by  the 
stalwart  offshoots  of  a  simple  knight  of  Normandy,  the  local 
architectural  traits  predominated,  but  such  Norman  influ- 
ences appear  as  the  central  lantern  and  intercrossing  arches 
(at  Monreale),  acutely  pointed  arches,  and  lobed  rosettes 
cut  in  the  spandrels  (in  the  hospital  at  Palermo),  west  towers 
with  corner  staircases  in  turrets,  an  aisle  preceding  the  chapels 
that  open  on  the  east  wall  of  the  transept  (the  cathedral  of 
Cefalu,  c.  1145).  There  are  Norman  traits  in  the  cathedrals 
of  Bari  and  B  arietta,  the  latter  having  false  tribunes  like  those 
of  Eu  and  Rouen.1 

At  Coutances  the  XIV  century  added  side  chapels  to  the 
cathedral.  During  a  siege  in  1356,  English  stone  bullets 
damaged  the  church;  Charles  V  had  it  restored  and  fortified. 
Bishop  Silvester  de  Cervelle  (1371-86)  built  the  Lady  chapel, 
some  lateral  chapels,  and  added  to  the  fagade  its  only  orna- 
mentation— the  colonnade  connecting  the  towers.  When 
Jeanne  d'Arc's  good  name  was  to  be  vindicated,  a  bishop  of 
Coutances  was  named  by  Rome  as  one  of  the  three  judges 
in  the  process  of  rehabilitation.  "Would  to  God,"  exclaimed 
the  pope,  "that  I  had  bishops  of  Coutances.  The  Church 
would  be  well  governed."  Olivier  de  Longueil,  vir  gravis, 
vir  bonus,  vir  mutis  (like  his  own  cathedral),  was  endowed 
with  the  ideal  qualities  for  a  judge — independence  and  firm- 
ness. His  boyhood  friends  were  the  Estouteville  brothers, 
one  the  defender  of  the  Mount,  and  the  other  the  most  active 
agent  in  the  clearing  of  the  Maid's  name. 

The  cathedral  of  Coutances  suffered  much  in  the  religious 

1  Camille  Enlart,  L'influence  exterieure  de  V art  normand  au  moyen  dgc;  ibid,  Origincs 
franqaises  de  V architecture  gothique  en  Italic  (Paris,  Thorin,  1894);  Ch.  Diehl,  Palcrmc 
et  Syracuse  (Collection,  Villes  d'art  celebres),  (Paris,  II.  Laurcns,  1907);  Miss  C. 
Waern,  Medieval  Sicily  (London,  1910);  Emilc  Bcrtaud,  Uart  datis  T  Italic  meridionale; 
F.  Chalandon,  Histaire  de  la  domination  normande  en  Italic  ct  en  Sidle  (Paris,  1907); 
E.  Curtis,  Roger  of  Sicily  (New  York,  1912). 

555 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

wars.  So  devastated  was  it  in  1562,  when  from  end  to  end 
of  Normandy,  as  at  a  given  signal,  priests  were  slaughtered 
at  the  altar,  tombs  violated,  church  windows  broken,  and 
images  shattered,  that  it  lay  long  unused.  The  collapse  of 
some  vault  sections  made  a  thorough  restoration  necessary. 

To  the  south  of  Coutances,  at  Avranches,1  once  stood 
another  cathedral  of  Normandy,  begun  in  1109,  dedicated 
in  1120,  and  later  changed  to  Gothic.  It  was  exceptional 
in  having  no  transept.  An  inscription  in  the  street  marks 
the  spot  where,  before  its  northern  portal,  Henry  II  of  England 
did  public  penance  in  1172,  and  received  absolution  from  the 
papal  legate  for  his  guilt  in  the  murder  of  St.  Thomas  Becket. 
Alas!  like  the  cathedrals  of  Cambrai  and  Arras,  the  Revolu- 
tion brought  about  the  ruin  of  Avranches.  "L'Sgalite  setait 
jaite  dans  les  mines,"  says  one  of  its  biographers.  After  the 
sacking  of  1794  the  historic  church  collapsed.  Ruskin  has 
nobly  lamented  its  loss:  "Did  the  cathedral  of  Avranches 
belong  to  the  mob  who  destroyed  it  any  more  than  it  did  to 
us  who  walk  in  sorrow  to  and  fro  over  its  foundations?" 

THE  GOTHIC  ART  OF  BRITTANY2 

Chez  les  Bretons  un  double  courant:  1'esprit  de  Iibert6,  1'esprit  de  tra- 
dition; et  pour  les  concilier,  les  pousser  tous  deux  vers  un  meme  but  et 
vers  un  but  supeYieur,  la  flamme,  la  passion  de  1'ideal,  si  ardente  chez 
nos  bardes  et  nos  saints,  si  vivante,  si  puissante  toujours  dans  1'ame  bretonne, 
et  qui  1'a  jet£e  tout  entiere  dans  la  religion  de  I'id6al  par  excellence:  la  foi 
du  Christ.  Libert^,  tradition,  id6al:  voila  le  triple  facteur  de  la  vie  intime 
et  de  la  vie  publique,  de  la  vie  nationale  des  Bretons. — LEON  SECHE. 

1  Doctor  Coutan,  La  cathedrale  d' Avranches  (Rouen,  Cagniard,  1902);  La  Normandie 
monumentale  et  pittoresque.     Manche,  vol.  2,  p.  65,  "Avranches." 

2  Anatole  Le  Braz,  La  Bretagne  (Collection,  Les  provinces  franchises),  (Paris,  H. 
Laurens);   ibid.,  Histoire  de  Bretagne  (Collection,  Les  vieilles  provinces  de  France), 
(Paris,  Bouvin);   ibid.,  Au  pays  des  pardons  (translated,  London,  Methuen,  1906); 
Abbe  J.  M.  Abgrall,  Architecture  bretonne;  etudes  des  monuments  du  diocese  de  Quimper 
(Quimper,  1904);  ibid.,  Paysages  et  monuments  des  CoLes-du-Nord;  Gautier  du  Mottay, 
Repertoire  archeol.  des  C6tes-du-Nord;  H.  du  Cleuziou,  Bretagne  artistique  et  pittoresque 
(Paris,  1886);  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  archeol.  du  Finistere,  1901,  vol.  28,  p.  264,  "  Le  vieux 
Morlaix";  and  1902,  vol.  30,  p.  24,  "Le  vieux  Quimperle";  A.  de  Lorme,  "L'art  breton 
du  XIII6  au  XVII6  siecle,"  in  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  archeol.  du  Finistere,  1901,  vol.  28, 
p.  264;  Taylor  et  Nodier,  Voyages  pittoresque  .  .  .  dans  Tancienne  France,  La  Bretagne 
(Paris,  Didron,  1845-46),  2  vols.;  Andre,  La  verrcrie  et  les  vitraux  peint  dans  I'anrienne 
province  de  Bretagne  (1878);    Leon  Palustre,  La  Renaissance  en  France,  vol.  2,  "  La 

556 


Brittany  was  a  late  comer  in  the  national  art  and  much  is 
it  to  be  regretted,  for  had  her  building  energies  been  aroused 
during  the  Romanesque  epoch,  her  storm-worn  granite  rock 
would  have  then  best  expressed  her  regional  character.  Among 
the  few  Romanesque  works  of  Brittany  are  the  crypt  of  Nantes 
Cathedral;  the  nave  of  St.  Aubin's  church  within  the  corselet 
of  stone  at  Guerande;  a  stalwart  central  tower  over  monastic 
Redon — cradle  of  Breton  history-making,  St.  Gildas  de 
Rhuys,  which  M.  Lefevre-Pontalis  places  in  the  first  quarter 
of  the  XI  century;  the  church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  at  Quimperle, 
radically  remade  after  the  fall  of  its  tower  in  1862  (the  Gothic- 
rib  masonry  roof  beneath  that  tower  dating  before  1150); 
a  Templar's  church  at  Loctudy;  the  Breleverez  church  beside 
Lannion.  Equally  rare  are  Brittany's  Gothic  monuments 
of  the  first  part  of  the  XIII  century,  Dol  Cathedral  being  one 
of  the  few.  As  the, era  of  Apogee  Gothic  drew  to  a  close  the 
cathedrals  at  Quimper,  St.  Pol-de-Leon,  and  Treguier  were 
rising.  So  was  that  rude  mass  of  granite,  the  cathedral  at 
St.  Brieuc,  and  the  churches  of  Rosporden  and  Guingamp. 

In  the  XIV  century  was  built  the  Kreisker  tower,  parent 
of  a  generous  progeny.  Sea-going  people  are  lovers  of  high 
towers,  and  Brittany  is  dotted  with  them.  Over  the  flat, 
bleak  land  of  Leon  the  dockers  a  jour  are  a  glory.  With 
passion  the  Breton  admired  his  landmarks.  As  he  sailed 
home  from  long  months  in  the  northern  fisheries,  they  were 
the  first  signals  of  welcome.  To  express  his  affection,  he 
sometimes  inscribed  the  Canticle  of  Canticles  on  his  tower: 
"Who  is  this  that  cometh  up  from  the  desert  flowing  with 
delights?"  No  village  felt  itself  too  humble  to  attempt  an 
imitation  of  the  Kreisker  at  St.  Pol-de-Leon. 

By  far  the  greater  number  of  Breton  churches  belong  to  the 


Bretagne"  (Paris,  Quantin,  1885),  3  vols.,  folio;  De  la  Borderie,  Histoire  de  Bretagne, 
vol.  3,  from  995  to  1364,  and  vol.  4,  from  1364  to  1522  (Rennes,  1896-1900);  ibid., 
Mosdique  bretonne  (Rennes,  Plihon  et  Herve);  De  la  Villemarque,  ed.,  Barzas-Briez; 
chants  populaires  de  la  Bretagne,  ninth  edition  (1892),  2  vols.;  F.  M.  Luzel,  Gwerziou 
Briez-Izel  (epics)  and  Soniou  (lyrics),  (Lorient,  1868-74),  3  vols.;  Simeon  Luce,  His- 
toire de  Bertrand  Duguesclin  et  de  son  epogue  (1883);  Leroux  de  Lincy,  Vie  de  la  reine 
Anne  de  Bretagne  (1860);  A.  Robida,  La  veille  France,  Bretagne  (Paris,  1891). 

557 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Flamboyant  Gothic  day,  and  at  that  time  the  most  energetic 
builder  was  Finistere,  the  far-western  stronghold  called 
Armorica  before  the  Celts  from  Britain  fled  in  the  V  and  VI 
centuries  from  invading  Saxons  to  the  inviolate  refuge  of  these 
other  dwellers  by  the  sea.  St.  Jean-du-Doigt  was  built  from 
1440  to  1513,  and  when  almost  completed,  Anne,  duchess  of 
Brittany  and  twice  queen  of  France,  visited  it  to  pray  for  a 
cure.  Her  daughter,  Claude,  also  queen  of  France,  was 
equally  generous  to  the  shrine.  St.  Jean's  Pardon  of  the 
Fire,  in  the  latter  days  of  June,  is  one  of  the  five  big  Pardons 
of  Brittany. 

Anne  of  Brittany's  device,  the  ermine,  is  carved  on  many 
a  facade  of  France.  Both  her  husbands  were  notable  art 
patrons.  For  her  Charles  VIII  rebuilt  the  chateau  at  Am- 
boise,  and  for  her  Louis  XII  began  the  chateau  at  Blois,  and 
at  Loches  made  an  oratory  that  bears  her  name.  The  Book 
oj  Hours  of  Anne  of  Brittany  has  never  been  surpassed.  It 
was  for  her  a  liberal  education  to  live  in  contact  with  her 
second  husband's  minister  of  state,  Cardinal  Georges  I  d'Am- 
boise,  who  is  said  to  have  employed  practically  every  Flam- 
boyant and  Renaissance  architect  and  sculptor  of  the  time 
on  his  chateau  at  Gaillon,  and  whose  tomb  in  Rouen  Cathe- 
dral retains  much  of  the  truly  French  spirit  of  Michel  Colombe's 
school.  Brittany  benefited  artistically  by  the  royal  marriages 
of  her  last  duchess:  Anne  gave  the  Breton  Colombe  the 
opportunity  to  make  his  chef-d'oeuvre — the  splendid  ducal 
tomb  in  Nantes  Cathedral. 

The  ermine  of  Anne  of  Brittany  adorns  the  lintel  of  Folgoet, 
to  which  she  added  a  tower,  after  her  visit  in  1505.  That 
stately  late-Gothic  collegiate  church,  standing  in  a  little 
Breton  village  above  Landerneau,  possesses  an  apostle  porch 
—a  feature  popular  in  Brittany — a  richly  sculptured  jube 
of  three  arcades,  and  altars  of  green  Kersanton  granite.  On 
one  of  its  altars  the  corporation  of  masons  carved  compass, 
rule,  and  hammer.  And  in  like  manner,  as  emblems  of  patriotic 
service,  might  be  inscribed  the  names  of  the  twelve  villagers 
who,  at  personal  sacrifice,  when  their  church  was  to  be  de- 

558 


GOTHIC  ART  IN   NORMANDY 

molished  in  1808,  bought  it  as  a  gift  for  their  commune.  On 
many  a  shrine  can  modem  Finistere  inscribe  the  names  of 
those  of  her  sons  who  fought  for  their  country  in  the  World 
War.  Just  as  it  was  given  Breton  sailors  of  the  XV  century 
to  raise  the  siege  of  Mont-Saint-Michel,  so  at  Dixmude,  in 
the  autumn  of  1914,  they  checked  the  drive  toward  Calais 
of  other  invaders  of  French  soil.  Brittany,  with  her  pro- 
found cult  of  the  dead,  will  consecrate  one  of  her  noblest 
Calvaries  to  the  memory  of  Dixmude's  heroes: 

Que  ces  noms  soient  sur  l'6glise! 

Qu'on  les  lise 

Sur  le  granit  des  piliers  .  .  . 
Que,  sur  la  roche  severe 

D'un  Calvaire, 
Solitairement  inscrit, 
A  travers  la  pastorale 

VespeVale 
Le  nom  du  mort  pousse  un  cri ! l 

Other  Flamboyant  Gothic  monuments  of  the  ancient  duchy 
are  the  choir  of  the  cathedral  of  St.  Pol-de-Leon;  the  cloister, 
porch,  and  central  tower  of  Treguier  Cathedral;  the  chapel 
of  Notre  Dame-des-Portes  at  Chateauneuf-du-Faou;  Notre 
Dame  in  the  little  city  of  Vitre,  that  claims  to  be,  with  Avignon, 
the  most  entirely  mediaeval  walled  town  in  France;  St.  Jean 
and  Notre  Dame  at  Lamballe,  which  latter  XHI-century 
church,  with  foundations  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock,  was 
rebuilt  and  fitted  with  XVI-century  windows;  St.  Melaine, 
at  Morlaix,  rebuilt,  1482,  and  possessing  a  towering  baptismal 
font  of  carved  wood;  and  Notre  Dame  at  Kernascleden, 
between  Le  Faouet  and  Guemene,  the  work  of  two  brothers 
named  Bail. 

The  making  of  stained  glass  flourished  in  the  later  Middle 
Ages  at  Quimper,  Treguier,  and  Vannes.  Good  windows 
are  to  be  found  at  Dol,  Quimper,  Guerande,  Ploermel  (where 
the  church  has  a  rich  Flamboyant  facade  pignon),  at  Kergoat, 
Moncontour,  Les  Iff  (where  the  doners  were  the  Laval-Mont- 

1  Edmond  Rostand,  "  Le  nom  sur  la  maison,"  in  Le  vol  de  la  Marseillaise  (Paris, 
Charpentier  et  Fasquelle,  1919). 

36  559 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

morency  family),  at  Plelan,  Plogonnec,  and  at  Penmarc'h, 
whose  Pardon  of  the  Rosary  occurs  on  the  first  Sunday  of 
October.  Because  the  popular  gatherings  called  pardons 
are  among  the  basic  forces  that  have  helped  to  mold  the 
architecture  of  the  ancient  duchy,  they  are  important  for  the 
student  of  the  builder's  art. 

The  late-Gothic  churches  that  cover  Brittany  are  rich  in 
ecclesiastical  furniture,  carved  baptismal  temples,  and  panels 
sculptured  with  the  quaint  usages  of  burial  and  marriage, 
or  with  agricultural  scenes,  such  as  those  at  St.  Goueznon 
(1615),  at  Bannalec  (1605),  at  La  Roche-Maurice  near  Brest, 
and  at  Notre  Dame-la-Grace,  near  Guingamp,  the  latter  two 
churches  possessing  some  "storied  windows  richly  dight." 
At  Kerdevot  is  a  wooden  reredos,  at  Roscoff  a  very  beautiful 
alabaster  one  of  the  XV  century;  at  Lambadec  a  jube  dated 
1480;  at  St.  Fiacre-du-Faouet  (whose  pardon  comes  on  the 
first  Sunday  of  July)  a  rood-loft  of  richly  carved  wood,  un- 
fortunately painted  in  crude  colors;  at  Quimperle,  in  the  church 
of  Ste.  Croix,  that  is  fashioned  in  memory  of  the  sepulcher 
shrine  at  Jerusalem,  is  a  jube  almost  wholly  of  the  Renaissance. 

Because  of  her  pardons,  Brittany's  religious  ceremonies 
took  place  largely  in  the  open  air,  even  as  each  of  her  tribes, 
each  plou,  in  prehistoric  times  had  gathered  around  her  solemn 
menhirs  and  dolmens.  Hence  the  Breton  made  much  of  church- 
yards, placing  in  them  his  Calvaries,  profound  expressions  of 
a  people's  emotions  carved  primitively  in  the  regional  coarse 
granite.  The  Lord's  Passion  had  vivified  the  Celtic  soul  ever 
since  Christianity  took  possession  of  it.  As  granite  is  unyield- 
ing to  sculpture,  many  a  Breton  turned  to  wood  to  express 
his  verve,  carving  his  church  beams  like  the  prow  ends  of 
ships. 

Morlaix  l  is  a  good  center  from  which  to  visit  many  of  the 
notable  revered  places.  Close  by,  in  the  village  of  Plougonven, 

*A  son  of  Morlaix,  Emile  Souvestre  (1806-54),  has  written  lovingly  of  Brittany: 
"  II  y  a  quelque  chose  de  bien  superieure  a  la  louange;  la  conscience  que  Ton  a  etc 
compris  et  que  Ton  est  aime  pour  son  oeuvre.  Aim&  pour  son  oeuvrel  Je  sais  mieux 
que  personne  ce  qui  manque  a  ce  que  j'ecris.  II  faut  quelque  chose  d'ondoyant. 
J'appartiens  a  cette  terre  Celtique  ou  les  monuments  sont  des  pierres  non  tailI6es." 

5  GO 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

is  the  oldest  Calvary  extant  (1554).  A  few  miles  away  is  that 
of  St.  Thegonnec  (1610),  a  shrine  invoked  for  the  cure  of 
beasts,  where  beneath  a  statue  of  Our  Lady  is  inscribed: 
"We  beg  you,  Madame  Vierge,  to  accept  our  first  bull." 
Near  the  church  is  one  of  the  isolated  chapels  called  ossuaries 
in  which  were  gathered  the  bones  of  the  past  generations 
when  they  had  had  their  turn  in  the  churchyard's  consecrated 
ground.  The  chapel  bears  an  inscription  from  Maccabees: 
"It  is  therefore  a  holy  and  wholesome  thought  to  pray  for 
the  dead,  that  they  may  be  loosed  from  their  sins."  Bedrock 
in  the  Breton  is  his  instinct  to  join  his  progenitors  and  his 
descendants  in  a  permanence  of  spiritual  emotion.1  No  other 
people  of  the  earth  risk  life  more  freely  than  these  frequenters 
of  the  deep-sea  fisheries;  nowhere  is  the  cult  of  the  dead  more 
tenacious,  because  it  is  considered  that  they  who  have  fallen 
asleep  with  Godliness  have  great  grace  laid  up  for  them. 

Near  St.  Thegonnec,  at  Guimiliau,  is  another  Calvary 
(1581),  and  another  ossuary  and  triumphal  arch.  The  capa- 
cious church  porch  is  lined  with  statues  of  the  apostles.  At 
Carhaix,Pleyben  (1650), Cronan, and  Penmarc'h, are  Calvaries, 
and  that  at  Lampaul  is  united  in  the  same  composition  with 
the  graveyard's  triumphal  arch.  Brittany's  most  imposing 
Calvaire,  and  the  most  wonderful  wayside  shrine  ever  made, 
comprising  over  two  hundred  images  in  all,  is  at  Plougastel- 
Daoulas,  a  memorial  of  the  epidemic  of  1598.  The  greenish 
Kersanton  granite  of  which  it  is  made  is  quarried  close  by  in 
the  harbor  of  Brest,  and  acquires  with  time  the  endurance 
and  appearance  of  bronze.  Breton  peasants  are  represented 
playing  on  Breton  pipes  in  the  Entry-into-Jerusalem  scene. 
Late  comers  these  rough-hewn  sculptures  may  be  in  the 
national  art,  but  in  so  far  as  character  goes  they  might  easily 
belong  to  the  XII  or  XIII  century. 

The  theorist  may  say  that  the  racial  exclusiveness  of  Brittany 

1<lCampagnes  bretonnes,  qu'on  dirait  toujours  recueillies  clans  le  passe  .  .  .  grandes 
pierres  qui  couvrent  les  lichens  gris  .  .  .  plaines  ou  le  granit  ailloure  lc  sol  antique.  .  .  . 
Ce  sont  des  impressions  de  tranquillite,  d'apaisement,  quo  m'apporte  ce  pays;  c'est 
aussi  une  aspiration  vers  un  repos  plus  complet  sous  la  mousse." 

— PIKKIIE  LOTI,  Monfrere  Yves. 
561 


is  one  of  the  reasons  why  it  has  not  excelled  in  architecture 
and  the  kindred  arts.  That  may  be  so.  The  chief  concern 
of  the  Celt  has  ever  been  to  save  his  soul.  The  architectural 
purist  is  prone  to  carp  at  Breton  Gothic,  and  some  even  dare 
say  that  the  Kreisker  itself  errs,  in  that  its  shaft  is  not  suffi- 
ciently welded  with  its  spire.  Without  a  doubt  the  absence 
of  symmetry  in  many  churches  of  the  ancient  province  is  at 
first  disturbing,  but  soon  one  comprehends  that  one  travels 
in  Brittany  not  for  its  architecture,  but  for  the  unconquerable 
soul  of  a  people  who,  while  devoted  to  tradition,  have  ever 
stood  up  uncowed,  unswerving  in  their  antagonism  to  des- 
potism. The  sensitive  traveler — that  is,  the  man  with  kindly, 
plain  loyalties — will  let  himself  grow  attached  to  the  mediocre, 
irregular  churches  of  this  individual  land. 

Some  of  those  irregularities  are  startling  enough.  The 
pilgrimage  church  of  Guingamp  has  a  curious  two-storied 
triforium,  and  flying  buttresses  inside  the  choir  over  the 
aisles.  Its  nave  is  an  amalgam,  one  wall  Gothic  and  its 
vis-a-vis  a  fluted-pilastered  Renaissance  affair.  The  sculptor 
gave  his  initiative  full  scope  in  the  apostle's  porch — a,  revered 
spot  on  the  days  of  Guingamp 's  famous  pardon,  that  precedes 
the  first  Sunday  of  July.  At  Dinan,  in  the  church  of  St. 
Sauveur — in  whose  transept  is  treasured  the  heart  of  Dugues- 
clin,  born  not  far  away — a  Romanesque  wall  faces  a  Flam- 
boyant Gothic  one.  In  the  corsair  stronghold  of  St.  Malo,1 
breeder  of  strong  men,  the  cathedral's  walls  make  no  pretense 
to  be  parallel. 

The  Breton  has  been  too  engrossed  in  keeping  warm  in  his 
churches  the  spirit  of  devotion  to  bother  about  such  details 
as  symmetry.  Eagerly  he  added  chapel  to  chapel,  aisle  to 
aisle,  regardless  how  difficult  it  might  be  for  a  stranger  to 
orient  himself  on  entering.  The  wise  traveler  will  accept 


1  The  men  of  St.  Malo  have  been  pioneers  under  one  aspect  or  another,  sea  rovers, 
like  Duguay-Trouin,  Surcouf,  or  Jacques  Cartier,  who,  in  1535,  knelt  in  the  cathedral, 
where  an  inscription  marks  the  pavement,  to  receive  episcopal  blessing  before  he 
sailed  to  discover  Canada.  Other  sons  of  St.  Malo  have  been  the  astronomer,  Mau- 
pertius  (1698-1756);  Lamennais  (1782-1854);  and  Chateaubriand  (1768-1848), 
who  chose  for  his  burial  the  barren  island  of  Grand  Be,  offshore. 

562 


GOTHIC   ART  IN  NORMANDY 

Brittany  as  she  is,  for  if  he  does  not,  Brittany,  like  Spain,  will 
exasperate  him  by  her  tranquil  indifference  to  his  criticisms. 
On  a  mediaeval  tower  of  the  castle  at  St.  Malo  was  inscribed : 

Grumble  who  will. 
So  shall  it  be 
As  pleases  me.1 

THE  CATHEDRAL  AT  DOL-EN-BRETAGNE* 

Bretagne,  6  mon  pays,  garde  ta  foi  naive, 
Car  Dieu  se  plait  surtout  dans  la  simplicity 
C'est  comme  le  miroir  d'une  source  d'eau  vive, 
Ou  vient  se  r6fl6chir,  1'astre  de  v6rit6. 

— JOSEPH  ROUSSE,  Poesies  bretonnes. 

Brittany  may  be  a  land  of  shrines  more  than  of  churches; 
nevertheless,  some  five  of  its  former  nine  bishoprics  are  of 
interest  in  the  Gothic  story — Dol,  Nantes,  Quimper,  St. 
Pol-de-Leon,  and  Treguier. 

The  hardy  outpost  of  Dol,  in  the  north,  has  stood  many  a 
siege,  fought  many  a  battle,  and  its  church  walls  are  crene- 
lated where  they  face  the  city  ramparts.  The  tutelary  of 
the  ci-devant  cathedral  is  St.  Samson,  whose  name  keeps  alive 
the  memory  of  the  arrival  of  the  harassed  Celts  of  Britain 
who  poured  "like  a  torrent"  into  Armorica  during  the  dark 
centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages  when  the  migrations  of  the 
Barbarians  had  wiped  out  Rome's  civilization  in  England.  In 
Dol's  great  eastern  window,  St.  Samson  and  some  monk  com- 
panions are  shown  crossing  the  Channel. 

The  cathedral  of  Dol — which  Stendhal  admired  beyond 
others  in  France — is  a  melancholy  severe  granite  edifice, 
though  probably  the  best  Gothic  of  the  province.  Charac- 

1  "Quiqu'en  grogne,  Ainsi  sera:   C'est  mon  plaisir." 

2  Andre  Rhein,  "  La  cathedrale  de  Dol,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1910,  vol.  74, 
p.  367;    A.  Rame,  "  La  cathedrale  de  Dol;    tombeau  de  1'eveque  Thomas  James,  in 
Melanges  d'archeologie  bretonne,  1858,  vol.  2,  p.  10;   T.  Gautier,  La  cathedrale  de  Dol; 
Ch.  Robert,   Guide  de  tourist  archeologique  a  Dol   (Dol-de-Bretagne,    1892);    Leon 
Palustre,  La  Renaissance  en  France,  vol.  2,  "  La  Bretagne,"  p.  87,  on  Dol  (Paris, 
Quantin,  1885);    Paul  Vitry,  Michel  Colombe  et  la  sculpture  franqaise  de  son  temps 
(Paris,  1901);  A.  de  Montaiglon,  "  La  sculpture  franchise  a  la  Renaissance:  la  famille 
des  Juste  en  France,"  in  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1875,  vol.  12,  p.  394. 

563 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

teristics  both  of  Normandy  and  the  He-de-France  appear  in 
it.  Two  of  the  wholly  detached  colonnettes  of  each  pier  are 
now  clamped  with  metal  bands,  and  the  wide  arches  of  the 
triforium  would  be  better  suited  to  open  on  a  gallery  than  as 
they  are  at  present — set  close  to  a  blank  wall;  a  few  doors 
in  the  wall  give  on  the  lean-to  roof  over  the  aisles.  The 
structure  of  the  church  demonstrates  that,  as  the  works  rose, 
extra  supports  were  added  for  stability. 

The  cathedral  was  begun  by  its  nave  soon  after  a  confla- 
gration of  the  town,  in  1203,  caused  by  the  troops  of  John 
Lackland.  Vestiges  only  of  the  wrecked  church  were  retained. 
The  fac.ade's  southern  tower  is  late  work,  despite  its  Roman- 
esque character,  and  its  fellow  belfry  to  the  north  is  in  larger 
part  of  the  XVI  century.  Out  of  the  nave's  southern  flank 
opens  a  graceful  XHI-century  porch.  The  choir,  which 
ends  in  a  flat  eastern  wall,  was  finished  by  1265,  when  was 
installed  its  splendid  big  window  of  eight  medallion  panels 
that  set  forth  the  Last  Judgment.  In  the  XIV  century 
was  opened  the  arch  leading  to  the  Lady  chapel  of  that  same 
date,  wherein  were  used  various  supplementary  ribs,  around 
windows  and  in  corners,  to  obviate  the  difficulty  of  vaulting 
a  square-ended  edifice.  To  the  XIV  century,  too,  belong  the 
side  chapels  of  the  choir,  and  the  big  porch  of  St.  Magloire 
before  the  transept's  southern  door. 

Against  the  blank  wall  that  closes  the  north  arm  of  the 
transept  stands  the  much-discussed  Renaissance  tomb  of 
Bishop  Thomas  James.  It  is  an  initial  work  of  the  Juste 
brothers  of  Tours,  the  ablest  among  the  Italians  who  brought 
the  new  art  standards  across  the  Alps.  The  bishop's  recum- 
bent image  has  disappeared.  From  1482  to  1504  he  held 
the  see  of  Dol,  though  only  in  residence  after  1486,  as  he 
lived  in  Rome,  the  papal  guardian  of  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo. 
In  his  testament  he  requested  a  simple  burial,  but  his  nephews 
—whose  profiles  adorn  the  tomb — chose  to  erect  this  elab- 
orate monument,  whose  cream-colored  fine-grained  stone, 
delicately  arabesqued,  contrasts  happily  with  the  dark  granite 
walls.  One  of  the  nephews  had  known  the  Juste,  or  Betti 

564 


GOTHIC   ART  IN  NORMANDY 

brothers,  in  Florence,  and  through  him  those  artists  came  to 
France.  In  his  prime  Jean  Juste  made  the  tomb  of  Louis 
XII  and  Anne  of  Brittany  for  the  Royal  Abbey  at  St.  Denis. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  AT  NANTES1 

Tres  crestien,  franc  royaume  de  France, 
Dieu  a  les  braz  ouvers  pour  t'acoler, 
Prest  d'oublier  ta  vie  p6cheresse: 
Requier  pardon,  bien  te  vendra  aidier 
Nostre  Dame,  la  tres  puissante  princesse, 
Qui  est  ton  cry  et  que  tiens  pour  maistresse. 
Les  saints  aussy  te  viendront  secourir, 
Desquelz  les  corps  font  en  toy  demourance. 
Ne  vueilles  plus  en  ton  p6chie  dormir 
Tres  crestien,  franc  royaume  de  France! 

— CHARLES  D'ORLEANS  (1391-1465). 

The  cathedral  of  St.  Peter,  at  Nantes,  the  third  on  the  site, 
is  a  late-Gothic  structure,  not  overvirile,  somewhat  artificial, 
but  ingenious  and  elegant,  even  as  is  the  contemporary  verse 
of  Charles  d'Orleans,  who  was  taken  prisoner  at  Agincourt 
and  passed  half  a  lifetime  in  exile.  M.  Gaston  Paris  has 
drawn  attention  to  the  similarity  between  XV-century  archi- 
tecture and  XV-century  poetry.  Is  not  that  bijou  of  artistry, 
the  chapel  of  St.  Hubert,  which  Anne  of  Brittany's  first 
husband  set  on  the  cliff  edge  at  Amboise,  of  the  same  quality 
as  a  rondel  of  the  poet-duke's?  Is  not  Villon's  ironic,  trag- 
ically-true note  reflected  in  the  Dance  of  Death  painted  on 
church  walls  during  those  years  of  pest  and  internecine  strife? 
Brittany  has  retained  one  of  the  only  two  surviving  danses 
macabres,  in  the  hamlet  of  Kermaria,2  the  house  of  Mary,  that 

1  Congres  Archeologique,  1856  and  1886;    Guilhermy,  "Monuments  des  bords  de  la 
Loire;    Nantes,"  in  Annales  archeol.,  1845,  vol.  2,  p.  87;   J.  Montfort,  "  La  crypt  de 
la  cathedrale  de  Nantes,"  in  Bulletin  Monumental,  1884,  vol.  50,  pp.  368,  449;   Paul 
Vitry,  Michel  Colombe  et  la  sculpture  frangaise  de  son  temps  (Paris,  1901);  Lambin  de 
Lignum,  Recherches  historiques  sur  I'origine  et  des  ouvrages  dc  Michel  Colombe;  Benj. 
Fillon,  Poitou  et  Vendee  (1846);  Travers,  Histoire  .  .  .  du  comic,  de  Nantes,  3  vols. 

2  Felix  Soleil,  La  danse-macabre  de  Kermaria-an-lsquit  (St.  Brieue,  1882);    fimile 
Male,  L'art  religieux  de  la  fin  du  moyen  age  en  France,  chap.  2,  "  La  danse  macabre" 
(Paris,  Colin,  1910);    Lucicn  Begule,  La  chapelle  de  Kermaria  Nisquit  et  la  danse  des 
marts  (Paris,  1911);    Abbe  J.  M.  Abgrall,  Le  mobilier  artistiquc  des  egliscs  brctonnes 
(Quimper,  Con  ton  nee,  1898). 

565 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

lies  between  the  villages  of  Plehedel  and  Plouha.     In  Auvergne, 
at  La  Chaise  Dieu,  is  the  other. 

In  1431  Jean  V,  of  the  third  ducal  line  of  Brittany,  the  de 
Montforts,  decided  to  remake  the  cathedral  of  the  outpost 
city  wherein  stood  his  castle.  Nantes  never  was  Bretagne 
bretonnante,  being  differentiated  from  Finistere  amid  its 
rocky  seacoast,  by  its  position  on  the  Loire  of  commerce 
and  art.  That  wonderful  river,  in  an  eight-hundred-mile 
course  from  Languedoc  to  Brittany,  passes  some  of  the  fairest 
monuments  of  France:  Le  Puy,  Nevers,  La  Charite,  St. 
Satur,  St.  Benoft,  Orleans,  Blois,  Chaumont,  Amboise,  Tours, 
Langeais — where  Anne  of  Brittany  wedded  Charles  VIII— 
Saumur,  St.  Florent,  Gennes,  Cunault,  and  the  castle  and 
cathedral  of  Nantes. 

Under  ducal  patronage  the  nave  of  Nantes  Cathedral  rose 
apace;  the  capitals  of  its  north  side  have  deeply  undercut 
curly-tipped  foliage,  but  on  the  nave's  south  side  the  piers 
lack  capitals  altogether.  The  interior  of  the  church  is  of 
glacial  aspect;  light  floods  it  pitilessly.  Its  eastern  end  is 
modern.  In  1886  was  unearthed  a  Romanesque  crypt  which 
Abelard  must  have  known,  for  he  was  born  in  a  manor  close 
by  Nantes,  and  returned  to  live  here  in  1136. 

Guillaume  Dammartin,  of  the  notable  family  of  Flamboyant 
Gothic  architects,  is  mentioned  as  working  on  Nantes  Cathe- 
dral, and  M.  Arthur  de  la  Borderic,  Brittany's  historian,  has 
discovered  that  an  artist  of  Tours,  Mathelin  Rodier,  was 
master-of-works  when  the  western  portals  were  sculptured 
(1470-80),  and  while  the  stately  inner-court  facade  of  the 
duke's  chateau  was  rising.  In  that  castle  Anne  of  Brittany 
was  born  in  1477,  became  a  reigning  duchess  at  twelve  years  of 
age,  and  in  its  chapel  was  married,  in  1199,  to  Louis  XII. 
On  her  deathbed  she  willed  her  heart  to  her  native  city.  She 
completed  the  castle  of  Nantes  by  what  is  called  the  Horseshoe 
Tower  overlooking  the  river. 

Anne  must  have  known  the  master,  Mathelin  Rodier, 
who  made  the  portals  of  the  cathedral,  decorating  them  with 
the  same  undercut  leaf  foliation,  the  same  lavish  splayed 

566 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

ornaments  as  adorn  the  contemporary  western  doors  of  Tours 
Cathedral,  a  hundred  and  thirty  miles  to  the  east.  The 
larger  statues  at  Nantes'  entrances  have  been  destroyed,  but 
in  the  voussures  are  many  small  groups,  sometimes  with 
four  or  five  personages  in  a  scene,  chiseled  with  natural  atti- 
tudes and  expressive  faces.  One  of  the  portals  commemorates 
St.  Peter  (observe  the  Quo  Vadis  episode),  another,  St.  Paul, 
while  the  place  of  honor  is  give  to  the  Saviour.  Within  the 
church,  under  the  organ,  are  XV-century  statues,  one  of 
which  represents  the  duke  patron  who  began  the  cathedral, 
the  grandfather  of  Anne  of  Brittany. 

Through  the  filial  piety  of  Anne,  her  birthplace  possesses 
the  canto  cygni  of  Gothic  sculpture,  "the  most  unscathed 
monument  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  intact  because  it  was  taken 
apart  and  buried  during  the  Revolution.  The  tomb  of  Anne's 
parents,  Francis  II,  the  last  duke  of  Brittany,  and  his  duchess, 
is  the  work  of  a  Breton,  for  an  authentic  manuscript  has 
proved  that  Michel  Colombe  was  born  in  Finistere,  within 
sight  of  the  Kreisker.  His  genius  was  fortified  by  long  years 
passed  in  the  art  atmosphere  of  Tours,  and  strengthened,  too, 
by  the  Flemish  realism  which  had  come  into  France  by  way 
of  the  Dijon  school  that  led  the  first  half  of  the  XV  century, 
even  as  the  school  of  Tours,  whose  chief  master  was  Colombe, 
led  its  latter  half.  Nor  did  this  Breton,  fecundated  by  Tou- 
raine  and  sturdy  Burgundy,  ignore  the  incoming  Italian 
culture,  as  is  shown  by  his  preference  for  ideal  beauty  over 
absolute  realism:  Celt,  Teuton,  and  Latin — all  were  needed 
for  the  making  of  the  last  of  the  great  Gothic  masters,  one 
who  held  loyally  to  the  spiritual  essence  of  the  Middle  Ages 
in  a  day  when  Renaissance  pomp  was  fast  rising  to  supremacy. 

Michel  Colombe  was  seventy  years  of  age  when  Anne  of 
Brittany,  on  a  visit  to  Tours  shortly  after  her  second  mar- 
riage, commissioned  him  to  make  a  mausoleum  for  her  parents, 
for  which  she  had  imported  white  marble  from  Genoa,  and 
black  from  Liege.  From  1502  to  1507  Colombe  worked  on 
the  larger  images,  in  his  studio  at  Tours.  His  are  the  recum- 
bent figures  of  the  duke  and  duchess,  and  the  entrancing 

567 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

little  angels  who  support  their  headcushion,  ministering  with 
the  same  loving  willingness  as  the  Xll-century  angels  of 
Senlis'  lintel.  From  Colombe's  master  hand  are  the  four 
allegorical  figures  at  the  corners  of  the  tomb,  robust  and 
graceful  women,  of  the  local  type  to  be  seen  in  central  France 
to-day.  They  typify  qualities  of  the  defunct,  Fortitude, 
Temperance,  Prudence,  and  Justice — this  last  image  said  to 
be  a  study  from  Duchess  Anne  herself. 

Centuries  later  a  similar  arrangement  of  symbolic  figures 
was  used  by  Paul  Dubois  for  his  noble  tomb  of  General  de 
Lamoriciere  (a  son  of  Nantes),  which  balances,  in  the  north 
arm  of  the  transept,  the  ducal  tomb  to  the  south.  Valor, 
Faith,  Charity,  and  History,  are  the  four  corner  statues  that 
commemorate  the  pioneer  of  civilization  in  French  Africa, 
who  was  so  loved  by  the  natives  that  he  went  freely  among 
them  unarmed,  a  modern  hero  who  proved  himself  a  true 
Breton  by  assuming  the  leadership  of  a  lost  cause. 

Lesser  masters  of  the  school  of  Tours  worked  on  the  noted 
ducal  tomb  of  Nantes;  Guillaume  Regnault  made  the  small 
images  and  Jerome  of  Fiesole  the  arabesques,  the  same  two 
masters  who  composed  the  tomb  of  the  children  of  Anne  of 
Brittany  and  Charles  VIII,  now  in  the  cathedral  at  Tours. 
And  when  Michel  Colombe  had  finished  his  statues,  Anne 
had  the  Lyons  master,  Jean  Perreal,  one  of  the  most  active 
agents  in  popularizing  in  France  the  new  art  standards  of 
Italy,  visit  Nantes  to  supervise  the  erection  of  the  mausoleum 
whose  ordinance  he  had  designed. 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  QUIMPER  * 

Ce  qui  me  charme  en  toi,  Quimper  de  Cornouailles, 
C'est  ton  cceur  paysan  sous  tes  airs  de  cit6. 

— ANATOLE  LE  BRAZ. 

Like  the  chief  church  at  St.  Pol-de-Leon,  and  that  of  Treguier, 
St.  Corentin  at  Quimper  is  "widowed  of  its  bishop."  Ad- 

1  R.  F.  Le  Men,  Monographic  de  la  cathedrale  de  Quimper  (Quimper,  1877);  Abbe 
J.  M.  Abgrall,  "  Autour  du  vieux  Quimper,"  in  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  archeol,  du  Finistere, 
1901,  vol.  28,  p.  79;  ibid.,  L1  architecture  bretonne,  etude  des  monuments  du  diocese  de 

568 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

mirably  situated,  it  stands  with  all  the  dignity  of  a  cathedral 
above  the  pleasant  little  "river  city  of  gables  and  fables," 
which  etches  itself  on  the  memory.  It  is  a  well-cared-for 
shrine,  full  of  warm  Breton  piety,  seen  at  its  richest  during 
the  pardon  gatherings  of  August  15th. 

Bishop  Rainaud  laid  the  first  stone  of  Quimper  Cathedral 
in  1239.  Its  ambulatory  copied  a  disposition  first  used  in 
Soissons  Cathedral,  but  repeated  only  here  and  at  Bayonne, 
though  across  the  Rhine  it  became  popular.  The  vault  ribs 
of  each  chapel  meet  in  the  same  keystone  as  the  ribs  of  that 
section  of  the  procession  path  on  which  the  chapel  opens. 
About  1280  a  little  shrine,  which  had  stood  in  the  rear  of  the 
cathedral,  separated  from  it  by  a  lane,  was  joined  to  the 
ambulatory  of  the  new  Gothic  choir  by  means  of  a  canted 
bay.  This  improvised  Lady  chapel  increased  the  irregular 
alignment  of  the  church.  The  deviation  of  Quimper's  axis 
is  extraordinary.  Standing  in  its  central  aisle,  at  the  rear 
of  the  nave,  you  cannot  see  the  first  of  the  three  bays  that 
usually  are  apparent  at  the  apse  curve,  and  such  is  the  bend 
of  the  choir  that  its  southern  aisle  possesses  one  more  bay 
than  does  the  aisle  to  the  north.  When  the  time  came  to 
replace  the  Romanesque  nave  by  the  actual  one,  that  new 
Gothic  edifice  might  have  straightened  somewhat  the  axial 
line  by  following  the  false  orientation  of  the  choir.  But 
apparently  the  proximity  of  the  episcopal  quarters  prevented 
this  being  done. 

The  choir  of  St.  Corentin  retains  the  canopy-image  windows 
of  Jamin  Sohier  (1417),  and  the  nave,  those  of  the  Jamin 
Sohier  of  a  second  generation;  a  western  window  is  dated 
1496.  The  shield  and  helmet  of  one  of  Brittany's  dukes  of 
the  Montfort  line,  Anne's  immediate  forebear,  adorn  the 
gable  of  the  main  facade.  The  cathedral  works  ceased  during 
the  first  part  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War;  the  choir  was  not 
roofed  in  stone  till  the  first  quarter  of  the  XV  century.  In 


Quimper  (1882);  Thomas,  La  cathedralc  dc  Quimper  (1892);  P.  Pcyron,  "  Lcs  eglises 
et  chapelles  du  diocese  de  Quimper,"  in  Bulletin  dc  la  Soc.  archftol.  du  Finisttre,  vo!. 
20,  pp.  129,  451;  vol.  31,  pp.  18,  216,  304;  vol.  32,  p.  183. 

569 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

1424  the  nave  was  begun  and  the  foundations  of  the  west 
towers  laid.  Quimper's  towers  derive  directly  from  the  famous 
one  of  St.  Pierre  at  Caen.  There  are  the  same  deep,  elongated 
twin-window  recesses  serving  as  buttresses.  After  another 
period  of  inactivity,  the  cathedral's  nave  was  vaulted.  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  XIX  century  the  west  towers  received  their 
crowning  of  crocketed  spires,  paid  for  by  a  popular  collection 
called  "the  penny  of  St.  Corentin." 

How  these  dwellers  by  the  sea  love  their  obsolete  local 
saints!  How  certain  they  are  that  to  forget  them  is  to  lose 
infinitely  precious  links  with  the  past.  The  solidarity  of 
ancestors  with  descendants  is  no  dead  letter  in  Finistere, 
that  lives  not  by  bread  alone.  One  knows  that  the  white- 
coiffed  women  of  Quimper — and  their  daily  gathering  in  their 
mediaeval  church  makes  a  brave  showing — would  not  love 
this  shrine  of  St.  Corentin  so  well  had  it  a  name  common  to 
western  Christendom.  But  St.  Corentin,  St.  Tugdual,  St. 
Huec,  St.  Iltud,  St.  Budoc,  St.  Jacut,  St.  Jubel,  St.  Gulstan, 
St.  Comery — ah,  those  are  the  potent  ones  before  the  heavenly 
throne  when  a  true  Breton  needs  assistance! 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  ST.  POL-DE-LEON ' 

O  Dieu  qui  nous  cr£as  ou  guerriers  ou  poetes, 
Sur  la  cote  marins,  et  patres  dans  les  champs, 
Sous  les  vils  int<5rets  ne  courbe  pas  nos  tetes; 
Ne  fais  pas  des  Bretons  un  peuple  de  marchands. 
J'ai  vu,  par  1'avarice  ennuy^s  et  vieillis, 
Des  barbares  sans  foi,  sans  coeur,  sans  esperance, 
Et,  1'amour  m'inspirait,  j'ai  chante  mon  pays. 

— A.  BRIZEUX,  L'elegie  de  la  Bretagne. 

The  most  complete  Gothic  monument  of  Brittany  is  the 
whilom  cathedral  of  St.  Pol-de-Leon,  one  of  the  few  important 
churches  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  be  entirely  carried  out,  with 

1 L.  Th.  Lecureur,  La  cathedrale  de  St.  Pol-de-Leon  (Collection,  Petites  Mono- 
graphics),  (Paris,  H.  Laurcns);  Ch.  Chassepied,  "  Notes  sur  la  cathedrale  de  St. 
Pol-de-Leon,"  in  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  arckeol.  du  Finistere,  1901,  vol.  28,  p.  304;  Abbe 
J.  M.  Abgrall,  Au  pays  des  dockers  a  jour  (Paris,  1902). 

570 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

spired  towers,  and  porches  for  the  different  needs  of  soul 
and  body,  one  for  catechumens,  another  for  lepers.  Its 
choir  and  nave  differ  strikingly  in  color  and  quality  of  stone. 
The  nave  of  yellow  sandstone  was  built  first,  and  is  decidedly 
the  most  artistic  portion  of  the  edifice.  The  florid  Gothic 
choir  is  of  gray  granite. 

As  the  XIII  century  closed  the  nave  was  begun,  continuing 
building  up  to  the  dire  times  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War.  It 
has  the  Norman  traits  of  sculptured  bands  of  academic  design 
below  triforium  and  clearstory,  trefoils  cut  in  the  spandrels 
of  arches,  multiple  arch  molds,  each  with  its  own  support, 
and  a  circulation  passage  beneath  the  upper  windows.  The 
triforium  was  begun  elaborately,  with  much  foliate  decoration, 
but  economy  soon  forced  the  architect  to  adopt  a  simpler 
plan.  The  nave's  south  aisle  is  double  beyond  the  fourth 
bay  where  a  porch  opens,  and  the  stones  show  that  the  outer 
aisle  was  originally  a  separate  chamber,  converted  during  the 
XV  century  into  a  passageway. 

The  Flamboyant  Gothic  choir,  that  lacks  the  harmony 
and  elegance  of  the  nave,  was  built  from  1439  to  1472.  Chapel 
has  been  added  to  chapel,  aisle  to  aisle,  with  the  profusion 
loved  by  the  Breton,  who  would  press  into  God's  service  every 
foot  of  free  land  around  his  presbytery.  The  transept  of  the 
XII  and  XIII  centuries  was  radically  reconstructed  during 
the  late-Gothic  day,  retaining  vestiges  only  of  its  Romanesque 
and  early-Gothic  work.  It  is  doubtless  to  such  repeated 
modelings  that  some  of  the  buttresses  fail  to  correspond  to 
columns  and  vault  shafts. 

During  a  siege  of  St.  Pol-de-Leon  by  the  English,  the  church 
called  the  Kreisker,  "center  of  the  city,"  was  injured.  When 
rebuilt,  from  1345  to  1399,  there  was  erected,  between  its 
nave  and  choir,  carried  merely  on  open  arches,  a  grandiose 
tower  modeled  on  Caen's  belfry  of  St.  Pierre,  as  had  been  the 
twin  towers  of  St.  Pol's  cathedral,  lesser  in  height  than  "the 
Kreisker."  The  deeply  recessed  lancet  openings  in  each 
face  of  the  giant  beacon  serve  the  practical  purpose  of  but- 
tresses. Few  cities  can  show  three  such  brave  towers  as 

571 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

this  little  Breton  town.  "The  Kreisker,"  mantled  in  golden 
lichen,  is  the  pride  of  every  Breton.  So  sure  is  its  poise,  so 
supple  and  strong,  that  for  centuries  all  the  wild  storms  of 
the  ocean  have  swept  unheeded  through  its  open  stonework 
spire.  The  popular  songs  love  to  extol  it: 

Je  suis  natif  du  Finistere, 

A  Saint-Pol  j'ai  recu  le  jour, 

Mon  clocher  est  1'  plus  beau  d'la  terre, 

Mon  pays  1'  plus  beau  d'alentour; 

Rendez-moi  ma  bruyere  et  mon  clocher  a  jour! 

St.  Pol  received  its  name  from  another  exile  of  Britain,  and 
the  good  man's  little  bell  is  rung  on  the  days  of  Pardon, 
over  the  heads  of  the  people,  who  believe  it  can  cure  maladies 
of  the  mind.  The  Revolution  tried  to  change  the  town's  name 
to  Port  Pol,  but  the  traditionalists  and  the  independents  that 
are  the  Bretons  soon  reverted  to  their  St.  Pol-de-Leon. 


THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  TREGUIER 1 

Une,  deux  generations  peuvent  oublier  la  Loi,  se  rendre  coupable  de  tous 
les  abandons,  de  toutes  les  ingratitudes.  Mais  il  faut  bien,  a  1'heure  marque'e 
que  la  chaine  soit  reprise  et  que  la  petite  lampe  vacillante  brille  de  nouveau 
dans  la  maison. 

—ERNEST  PSICHARI  (1883-1914). 

The  cathedral  of  St.  Tugdual  obtained  its  name  from  the 
founder  of  a  local  monastery,  a  nephew  of  St.  Brieux,  who 
had  crossed  from  Britain  with  the  returning  missionary,  St. 
Germain  of  Auxerre,  and  in  Armorica  had  established  a 
religious  house  which  eventually  gave  its  name  to  a  Breton 
city.  No  church  of  the  region  demonstrates  more  clearly 
how  difficult  it  is  to  obtain  full  Gothic  effect  with  granite. 
Lacking  sculpture,  the  art  is  necessarily  abortive. 

The  interior  of  Treguier  is  dark  and  forbidding.  The 
capitals  of  the  graceless  octagonal  piers  are  merely  uncut 
bands.  There  are  Norman  balustrades  and  a  Norman  interior 


1  Congres  Archeologique,  1883,  on  Treguier;   Ch.  de  la  Ronsiere,  Saint  Yves  (Collec- 
tion, Les  Saints),  (Paris,  Lecoffre,  1901);   Ernest  Renan,  Souvenirs  d'enfance  (1883). 

572 


GOTHIC   ART  IN  NORMANDY 

passage  below  the  clearstory  lights.  The  name  of  the  archi- 
tect, Goneder,  was  recently  unearthed  by  M.  de  la  Borderie. 
From  the  previous  Romanesque  cathedral  was  retained  the 
Tour  Hastings  which  now  terminates  the  northern  arm  of 
the  transept.  Toward  the  western  end  of  the  church  the 
molds  of  the  archivolts  die  off  in  the  piers. 

The  nave  rose  from  1296  to  1333;  then  came  the  pause  of 
the  Hundred  Years'  War.  Building  was  resumed — always 
on  the  original  Rayonnant  lines— by  Bishop  Jean  de  Coetquis 
(1450-61),  whose  relative,  of  the  same  name,  was  finishing 
the  nave  of  Tours  Cathedral.  The  charming  Flamboyant 
cloisters  of  Treguier  were  made  from  1461  to  1468,  and  with 
the  Tour  Hastings  they  compose  one  of  the  oft-sketched 
architectural  groups  of  the  country.  St.  Tugdual  has  suffered 
by  wars  and  revolutions,  being  damaged  by  the  English  in 
1347,  by  the  Spaniards  in  1592,  the  Liguers  in  1594,  and  the 
Revolution's  cyclone  passing  here  as  elsewhere. 

In  the  nave  of  Treguier  Cathedral  stands  a  sumptuous 
Gothic  monument  to  honor  Brittany's  patron  saint,  Yves  de 
Helori,  born  in  1253,  a  mile  from  the  town  in  the  manor  of 
Kernartin — modern  Minihy.  On  the  nineteenth  of  every 
May  Treguier  marches  in  procession  to  Minihy  to  commemorate 
the  good  man  who  cleared  the  region  of  evil-doers,  built  a 
hospital  beside  his  home  that  he  might  himself  wait  on  the 
stricken,  rose  at  midnight  to  chant  matins,  preached  some- 
times five  sermons  a  day,  and  was  the  poor  man's  lawyer, 
so  a  popular  hymn  relates:  "An  advocate  and  not  a  thief, 
a  thing  almost  beyond  belief."  The  pardon  of  St.  Yves,  the 
Pardon  of  the  Poor,  is  one  of  the  five  chief  ones  of  Brittany. 
For  centuries  those  who  had  pending  law  cases  repaired  to 
his  primitive  tomb.  Thus  Henry  VII,  Tudor,  crossed  from 
England  the  year  before  he  won  his  kingship,  to  petition  the 
favor  of  the  Breton  saint  who  had  supported  only  just  causes 
in  law.  Universities  selected  him  as  their  patron. 

St.  Yves  was  the  son  of  a  knight  who  went  crusading  with 
St.  Louis.  When  sent,  at  fourteen,  to  Paris  University,  he 
sat  with  other  young  scholars  on  the  rush-strewn  floors  to 

573 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

listen  to  the  scholastics;  even  in  his  student  days  he  visited 
the  sick  poor  in  the  hospitals.  Before  thirty  he  entered  the 
episcopal  magistry,  and  henceforth  his  abilities  were  devoted 
to  the  relief  of  orphans  and  widows.  This  good  man,  after 
whom  myriads  of  the  sons  of  Brittany  have  been  named, 
worked  assiduously,  it  is  said,  to  collect  funds  for  the  building 
of  the  Gothic  cathedral  of  Treguier. 

In  a  street  near  the  cloisters  of  St.  Tugdual,  Ernest  Renan 
was  born  in  1828,  his  name  deriving  from  an  Irish  anchorite 
of  Vl-century  Armorica.  From  his  Breton  father  he  derived 
his  gravity,  respect,  faith,  and  imagination;  from  his  mother's 
Gascon  stock  his  irony,  gayety,  and  serenity  in  skepticism, 
the  result  being,  as  he  himself  said,  a  tissue  of  contradictions. 
Brittany  took  his  Vie  de  Jesus  as  a  personal  affront.  That 
a  son  of  hers,  once  destined  for  the  priesthood,  should  call 
her  dear  Christ  of  Calvary  a  "sorcerer,"  a  "demi-impostor," 
a  "geant  sombre"  "un  fin  et  joyeux  moralist"  pierced  her  to 
the  soul.  When,  beside  the  cathedral  of  Treguier,  partisan 
politics  raised  a  Renan  statue  (singularly  inartistic),  whose 
inscription  was  taken  as  an  affront  by  every  believing  Chris- 
tian, two  million  Bretons  donated  toward  the  erection  of  a 
monumental  protest.  The  Calvary  of  Reparation  stands  at 
the  entrance  to  Treguier,  voicing  the  cry  attributed  to  the 
dying  Julian  the  Apostate,  "  Thou  hast  conquered,  Galilaean!" 

The  son  of  Renan's  daughter  was  that  chosen  soul,  Ernest 
Psichari,  who  fell  defending  Belgium  in  August,  1914,  a  death 
considered  by  mystic  Brittany  to  be  an  atonement.  He  has 
told  of  his  spiritual  anguish,  "without  defense  against  evil, 
without  protection  against  sophistry,  wandering  without 
conviction  in  the  poisoned  gardens  of  vice,  sick  to  the  soul 
and  ever  pursued  by  obscure  remorse,  weighed  down  by  the 
bitter  derision  of  a  life  ruled  by  disordered  sentiments  and 
thoughts."  In  his  Appel  des  Armes  and  his  Voyage  du 
Centurion  he  has  traced  his  pilgrimage  from  materialism  to 
Christian  belief,  taking  "contre  son  pere  le  parti  de  ses  peres" 
His  grandfather,  of  Treguier,  in  Armorica,  had  written  many 
years  earlier:  "The  characteristic  trait  of  the  Breton  race  is 

574 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

idealism — the  disinterested  pursuit  of  a  moral  or  intellectual 
aim.  The  Celt  craves  the  Infinite.  He  thirsts  for  it,  seeking 
it  beyond  all  the  prizes  of  the  world." 


A  SUMMING  UP 

All  our  France  is  in  our  cathedrals.  .  .  .  Initiation  into  the  beauty  of 
Gothic  is  initiation  into  the  truth  of  our  race,  of  our  sky,  of  our  landscape. 
Gothic  art  is  the  sensible,  tangible  soul  of  France;  it  is  the  religion  of  the 
French  atmosphere.  We  are  not  incredulous;  we  are  merely  unfaithful.  We 
have  lost  at  the  same  time  the  sense  of  our  race  and  of  our  religion.  To 
regain  force  we  must  live  again  in  the  past,  revert  to  first  principles.  Taste 
reigned  of  yore  in  our  country :  we  must  become  French  again. 

— RODIN,  Les  cathedrales  de  France. 

With  many  a  gap,  with  many  a  lapse,  we  have  followed  the 
earlier  stages  of  Gothic  art  in  the  land  where  it  was  born.  We 
have  seen  how,  from  the  efforts  of  the  monks  to  cover  their 
Romanesque  naves  with  a  permanent  stone  roof,  was  evolved 
the  intersecting  rib  vault  which  was  the  basis  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, how  for  a  short  time  churches  used  the  Romanesque 
and  Gothic  systems  simultaneously  as  in  Morienval  and 
Poissy,  and  for  another  short  period  the  churches  were  Gothic 
in  essentials  while  retaining  a  few  traits  of  the  earlier  phase. 
By  many  the  imperishable  hour  that  produced  Soissons' 
transept,  the  choir  of  St.  Remi,  Notre  Dame  at  Laon,  and 
Notre  Dame  at  Paris,  is  beyond  all  others.  When  the  national 
art  expanded  into  its  full  flowering  in  the  XIII  century — an 
era  as  great  in  men  and  the  making  of  history  as  in  art — 
Gothic  science,  though  ever  seeking,  ever  reaching  out,  re- 
mained disciplined,  even  as  the  scholastic  builders  themselves 
were  disciplined. 

While  eighty  cathedrals  in  France  were  rising,  and  in  the 
same  hour  some  hundreds  of  lesser  churches,  the  rulers  of  the 
nation  were  capable  warriors,  compilers  of  laws,  and  admin- 
istrators, the  builders  were  monarchs,  crusading  bishops, 
troubadour  counts,  cloistral  ascetics,  and  arduous  sinners. 
Serf,  artisan,  burgher,  baron,  and  king  built  the  cathedrals; 
field  laborer,  minstrel,  maiden,  and  chatelaine  were  harnessed 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

to  the  same  cart  to  drag  in  the  great  stones.  Little  children 
cleared  the  church  pavement  of  sand  and  cement  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  "Day  of  Benediction"  for  their  city,  as  the  solemn 
blessing  of  their  church  was  held  to  be  by  those  God-fearing 
generations. 

The  new  school  of  mediaeval  archaeology,  that  during  three 
generations  has  been  interpreting  the  Gothic  churches  of 
France,  is  teaching  us  to  read  the  stones  with  sympathy. 
"Symbol  of  Faith,  the  cathedral  was  also  a  symbol  of  Love," 
says  M.  Smile  Male.  "All  men  labored  there.  The  peasants 
offered  their  all,  the  work  of  their  strong  arms.  They  pulled 
carts  and  carried  stones  on  their  shoulders  with  the  brave 
good  will  of  the  giant-saint,  Christopher.  The  burgess  gave  his 
money,  the  baron  his  land,  the  artist  his  genius.  During  more 
than  two  centuries  every  vital  force  in  France  collaborated 
on  the  cathedrals.  From  that  comes  the  puissant  life  emanat- 
ing from  these  eternal  monuments.  The  dead,  too,  were 
associated  with  the  living,  for  the  cathedral  was  paved  with 
tombstones,  and  the  earlier  generations,  with  hands  joined  in 
prayer,  continued  to  worship  in  their  ancient  church.  Past 
and  present  were  united  in  the  same  feeling  of  love.  The 
cathedral  was  the  very  conscience,  the  very  soul  of  the  city."1 

After  five  generations  had  reared  so  many  and  such  mag- 
nificent churches,  their  energy,  because  it  was  human,  passed 
from  plenitude  into  decline.  The  death  of  St.  Louis,  in  1270, 
may  be  taken  as  the  beginning  of  the  change,  though  even 
before  had  been  used  various  cut-and-dried  Rayonnant 
features.  Genius  flagged  when  structural  perfection  was 
achieved.  The  divinely  restless  reaching  out  of  art  was 
stultified  by  geometric  rule.  Graceful  and  stately  as  is  many 
a  XlV-century  church,  never  in  them  do  we  find  the  unex- 
pected entrancing  touches  of  Apogee  Gothic.  Gothic  was 
fast  becoming  an  art  made  tongue-tied  by  authority. 

As  time  went  on  profiles  deteriorated,  sharp  prismatic 
molds  succeeding  to  the  virile  torus,  or  molds  fluid  and  vague. 

1  fimile  Male,  L'art  religieux  au  XIIIe  siecle  en  France,  p.  442  (Paris,  Colin,  1908). 
(Trans,  by  Dora  Mussey,  London,  Dent  &  Sons,  New  York,  Duttou,  1913). 

576 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

By  the  XV  century  capitals  were  omitted  altogether.  The 
sane  marking  of  the  horizontal  line  had  become  an  offense 
to  the  eye.  Without  capitals  the  molds  died  away  weakly 
in  the  piers.  Flamboyant  Gothic  architecture  exhibited  all 
these  traits,  and,  moreover,  gave  capricious  rein  to  many  a 
redundant  detail,  yet  it  was  none  the  less  a  phase  of  art  far 
more  vigorous  and  satisfactory  than  the  Rayonnant  geometric 
period,  its  predecessor.  The  verve  and  abundance  of  Flam- 
boyant Gothic  was  a  rebirth.  The  inspiration  of  St.  Jeanne 
d'Arc,  the  restored  political  unity,  the  increase  of  trade,  the 
love  of  pageantry,  all  aided  the  art  renaissance  which  was 
in  progress  before  the  advent  of  Italian  ideas.  No  one  can 
say  that  Gothic  architecture  ended  in  decrepitude  who 
knows  such  masterpieces  as  the  facades  of  Rouen  and  Beau- 
vais,  the  towers  at  Bordeaux,  Rodez,  and  Chartres,  the  balda- 
quin and  choir  screen  of  Albi,  or  statuary  as  ample  in  its 
simplicity  as  Riom's  Virgin  of  the  Bird  and  "the  Saints"  at 
Solesmes.  And  from  end  to  end  of  France,  as  the  XVI  century 
opened,  such  work  was  in  progress. 

What,  then,  killed  Gothic  art?  For  it  was  slain  with  all 
this  warm  blood  in  its  veins.  Some  say  the  return  to  pagan 
ideals  dealt  the  death  blow,  the  deserting  of  the  celestial 
man-humble  ideal  for  the  terrestrial  self-intoxicated  pride  of 
the  Italian  Renaissance:  "The  Renaissance  is  man  seeking 
knowledge,  happiness,  and  love,  outside  of  Christianity." 
A  Christian  had  knelt  in  prayer  on  a  Gothic  tomb,  or  reposed 
with  serene  confidence,  awaiting  the  trumpet  call  of  the  arch- 
angel, a  Book  of  Hours  in  his  hand.  On  a  Renaissance  tomb 
the  deceased  reclined  like  a  pagan  at  a  feast.  The  Italian 
wars  diverted  from  its  natural  channels  the  genius  of  the 
northern  Latins  (who  were  so  strongly  Celt  and  Frank),  and 
in  many  cases  the  imported  neo-classicism  was  not  that  of 
Italy's  supreme  masters,  but  of  the  lesser  artists,  their  suc- 
cessors. 

Others  have  contended  that  the  printing  press  and  the 
Protestant  Reformation— with  its  spirit  of  hostile  criticism 
—proved  fatal  to  the  national  art,  since  the  very  life  of  Gothic 

577 


was  legend,  poetry,  and  dreams,  and  symbolism  its  inspira- 
tion. Doubt  quickly  drained  the  sources  of  life.  "Its  charm 
had  been  to  retain  the  candor  of  childhood,  the  limpid  book 
of  young  saints.  It  was  an  art  whose  faith  discussed  not — 
it  sang."1  It  was  an  art  happy  and  bold  and  free  of  restraint, 
save  the  restraint  which  its  own  right  instinct  for  discipline 
imposed — co-ordinating  the  multitudinous  into  a  symmetrical 
unity — an  art  unfettered  in  its  truthtelling,  daring  to  sculpture 
king  or  bishop  marching  to  Hell,  yet  giving  no  offense  to 
authority  by  so  doing. 

Alas,  one  must  acknowledge  that  the  Church,  so  long  the 
guardian  of  Gothic  art,  dealt  a  deadly  blow  at  the  sweet 
nai've  gayety  of  the  Middle  Ages.  To  reform  Catholic  Christen- 
dom there  gathered  at  Trent  a  much-needed  Council,  impreg- 
nated with  the  critical  spirit  which  Luther  had  unloosed. 
Pious  churchmen  had  come  to  look  askance  on  legends.  They 
were  ashamed  of  the  simplicities  which  the  XHI-century 
man  was  so  certain  pleased  Our  Lady,  who  accepted  them 
with  a  friendly  smile  of  comprehension  of  her  fellow  creatures. 
The  good  fathers  at  Trent  regarded  prudishly  the  spiritual 
passion  of  the  Canticle  of  Canticles  flaming  in  cathedral 
windows;  they  thought  it  forwardness  to  carve  mechanics' 
tools  on  altar  stones.  Such  manifestations  were  excessive. 
What  would  our  critics  of  Wittemberg  and  Geneva  say?  The 
mystery  plays,  source  of  inspiration  for  the  late-Gothic  sculp- 
tors, now  became  suspect.  Deprived  of  popular  life,  the 
religious  themes  grew  cold.  When  censured,  the  creative 
instinct  withered.  In  1563  (a  year  after  the  iconoclastic 
outrages  in  France)  the  Council  of  Trent,  at  its  last  session, 
complained  that  Gothic  artists  scandalized  the  faithful  by 
their  childish  superstitions.  The  Middle  Ages  were  ended. 

Cathedrals  are  not  raised  by  critics  or  doubters.     When 


1  "Un  tel  art  ne  pouvait  etre  effleure  par  le  doute.  L'art  et  la  poesie  qui  emeuvent 
sortent  du  coeur  et  d'une  region  obscure  ou  la  raison  n'a  pas  acces.  L'artiste  qui  exam- 
ine, juge,  critique,  doute,  concilie.  a  deja  perdu  la  moitie  de  la  force  creatrice." — 
EMILE  MALE,  L'art  religieux  de  la  fin  du  moyen  age  en  France  (Paris,  Colin,  1910). 

"Art  addresses  not  pure  sense,  still  less  the  pure  intellect,  but  the  imaginative 
reason  through  the  senses." — WALTER  PATER. 

578 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

France  built  her  great  churches,  her  faith  was  humble,  her 
love  a  mounting  flame.  Her  cathedrals  were  symbols  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  in  her  midst,  the  pons  sceculorum  whereby 
man  passed  beyond  the  bourne  of  his  narrow  life.  They 
were  solaces  in  his  hours  of  misery,  in  his  delinquencies; 
they  stood  for  justice  alike  to  serf  and  baron;  they  were  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  made  visible,  the  BibHa  pauperum 
wherein  lettered  and  unlettered  read  the  same  lessons;  they 
were  the  Credo  chanted  by  men  who  believed  in  Christ,  Son 
of  the  Living  God  and  Son  of  the  Immaculate  Virgin. 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  the  generations  who  raised 
the  great  cathedrals  believed  profoundly  in  themselves  as 
God's  specially  loved  instruments,  his  own  selected  knights- 
errant.  "We  are  a  race  that  exists  to  advance  in  the  world 
the  affairs  of  God,"  said  the  old  Gallic  patrician  to  Clovis 
the  Frank,  and  soon  a  Frankish  parchment  ran,  "Vivat 
Christus  qui  diligit  Francos."  When  men  feel  like  that  they 
are  compelled  to  express  it  grandly.  When  as  pagans  they 
feel  it,  the  expression  is  a  cataclysmic  war  of  conquest.  When 
they  feel  it  as  Christians,  they  build  cathedrals.  The  genera- 
tions whom  St.  Bernard  purified,  whom  Suger  trained,  whom 
St.  Louis  inspired,  founded  their  church  on  a  firm  rock,  a 
living  rock,  lighted  it  unto  a  precious  stone,  prepared  it  as  a 
bride  adorned  for  her  husband,  and  ever  since  sanctity  has 
abided  therein;  kings  have  brought  hither  their  honors  and 
glory,  and  the  glory  and  honor  of  the  people  have  adorned 
the  walls. 

FRANCE 

Because  for  once  the  sword  broke  in  her  hand, 

The  words  she  spoke  seemed  perished  for  a  space; 

All  wrong  was  brazen,  and  in  every  land 
The  tyrants  walked  abroad  with  naked  face. 

The  waters  turned  to  blood,  as  rose  the  Star 

Of  evil  fate,  denying  all  release. 
The  rulers  smote  the  feeble,  crying,  "War!" 

The  usurers  robbed  the  naked,  crying,  "Peace!" 
579 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

And  her  own  feet  were  caught  in  nets  of  gold, 
And  her  own  soul  profaned  by  sects  that  squirm, 

And  little  men  climbed  her  high  seats  and  sold 
Her  honor  to  the  vulture  and  the  worm. 

And  she  seemed  broken  and  they  thought  her  dead, 
The  Over-Man,  so  brave  against  the  weak. 

Has  your  last  word  of  sophistry  been  said, 
O  cult  of  slaves?     Then  it  is  hers  to  speak. 

Clear  the  slow  mists  from  her  half-darkened  eyes, 

As  slow  mists  parted  over  Valmy  fell, 
And  once  again  her  hands  in  high  surprise 

Take  hold  upon  the  battlements  of  Hell. 
— CECIL  CHESTERTON  (who  died  a  soldier  of  the  World  War). 

Regretfully  one  turns  to  other  interests  after  spending 
years  in  trying  to  draw  closer  to  the  spirit  of  the  Middle  Ages 
—years  that  have  coincided  with  the  apocalyptic  struggle 
that  has  desolated  the  classic  region  of  the  national  art,  laying 
low,  one  after  another,  the  churches  of  the  first  fugitive  hour. 
And  watching  the  giant  battle,  it  has  grown  clearer  how  indis- 
soluble is  the  solidarity  of  modern  Frenchmen  with  their 
achieving  grandfathers.  A  nation's  bulwark  is  the  unbroken 
solidarity  of  Past  with  Present.  And  only  when  la  race 
lumineuse,  compounded  of  Celt,  Gaul,  Latin,  and  Frank, 
denies  that  solidarity  will  it  be  conquered. 

The  peasant-soldier  of  1914,  starting  for  the  front,  who 
replied  with  grave  dignity  to  his  well-wisher,  "Whichever 
way  it  turns,  I  am  ready,"1  would  have  met  death  like  a 
paladin  at  Roncevaux,  in  778,  holding  up  his  gauntlet  to 
God,  his  suzerain,  certain  of  the  justice  of  Him  who  from 
the  grave  raised  Blessed  Lazarus,  and  Daniel  saved  from  lions. 

The  young  tradesman  of  1915  who  wrote  from  the  trenches 

1  "  Hier,  pendant  son  conge  de  vingt-quatre  heures,  j'ai  rencontre  le  fils  d'une 
pauvre  femme  de  la  campagne,  un  ouvrier  que  j'aime  bien  depuis  longtemps.  Quand 
je  1'ai  quitte,  et  que  je  lui  ai  dit:  '  Bonne  chance,  Marcel,'  il  m'a  regarde  de  ses  yeux 
sans  reproche,  et  il  m'a  repondu:  '  D'un  cote  ou  de  1'autre,  je  ne  crains  rien.'  Et  cela 
voulait  dire:  la  vie  la  mort?  Qu'importe!  je  suis  pret.  Qu'est  ce  que  tout  cela. 
C'est  la  chanson  de  geste  qui  continue:  c'est  la  croisade  qui  n'est  point  finie,  c'est 
Dieu  transparaissant  a  travers  la  France  purifiee." — An  episode  to  the  World  War, 
1914:  Rene  Bazin,  Les  Preux. 

580 


GOTHIC  ART  IN  NORMANDY 

to  one  who  loved  him:  "I  look  on  this  struggle  less  as  a  war 
against  an  enemy  than  as  a  crusade  to  reinstate  God  in  his 
place  in  France,"  was  true  to  his  race  apostolique  that  sets 
the  church  bells  ringing.  At  Clermont,  in  1095,  he  pressed 
forward  with  the  cry:  "The  cross!  The  cross!  God  wills 
it!'  The  priest-soldier  offering  sacrifice  at  an  improvised 
altar  within  hearing  of  the  guns,  his  spurs  fretting  his  sa- 
cerdotal gown,  is  Turpin,  guarding  well  the  Cross  and  France. 

The  stricken  lad,  flung  back,  diseased  from  the  prisons 
beyond  the  Rhine,  weak,  broken,  in  tatters,  who  cried  with 
vibrant  voice,  as  he  and  his  comrades  crossed  the  Swiss  frontier, 
and  friendly  strangers  gathered  round:  "La  tete  haute!  C'est 
nous  la  France!"  conquered  Jerusalem  with  Godfrey  de  Bouillon 
in  the  olden  days,  and  related  his  prowess  in  a  legend-medallion 
window  at  Chartres. 

Above  all,  lives  the  soul  of  the  Past  in  the  generalissimo 
to  whom  a  righteous  destiny  granted  the  freeing  of  his  land 
from  invaders.  In  churches  shattered  by  shell  fire  he  knelt 
daily — the  weightiest  fruit  bending  lowest — and  he  begged 
that  the  children  of  Christendom  lift  up  their  little  white 
hands  to  heaven  to  petition  for  his  endurance.  In  1249, 
with  flashing  sword  and  the  cry,  " Mont joie-St. -Denis"  he 
sprang  into  the  surf  beside  his  saint-king,  following  the  ori- 
flamme  as  it  touched  African  soil.  We  have  seen  them  alive 
again,  the  cathedral  builders,  the  commune  winners,  the 
crusaders,  dying  with  the  farewell  sigh,  "II a!  doulce  France!" 

And  thank  God  the  flame  is  unquenchable,  thank  God 
that  in  the  French  race  is  the  underlying  sentiment  for  the 
Infinite,  that  peasant,  artisan,  student,  priest,  and  chief  feel 
the  same  humility  and  the  same  proper  pride  as  those  who 
built  Soissons,  the  lovely  stricken  virgin;  and  Laon  the 
intrepid,  braving  the  hammer  of  Odin  and  Thor;  Amiens 
the  perfect,  menaced  and  shaken  but  spared  to  us;  and  tragic, 
immortal  Rheims,  symbol  of  a  people's  resurrection.  To 
herald  the  dawn  is  the  mission  of  France,  to  look  on  her  deeds 
as  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos.  "Hers  is  the  hand  that  scatters 
the  seed." 

581 


Abadie,  Paul,  151,  290,  292,  354,  355. 

Abbeville  (Somme),  210,  226. 

Abelard,  Pierre,  41,  91,  104,  130,  133,  138, 

174,  175,  414,  419,  467,  566. 
Abraham,  182,  218,  219. 
Achery,  Dom  Luc  d',  149. 
Acy-en-Multien  (Oise),  45,  48. 
Adams,  Henry,  165, 170,  231, 299, 477, 499. 
Adrian  IV  (Nicolas  Breakspear),  Pope,  134. 
Agincourt,  1415  (Pas-de-Calais),  battle  of, 

71,  483,  490,  565. 
Agnes  of  Meran,  54,  95,  280. 
Aicard,  Jean,  378,  384. 
Aigueperse  (Puy-de-D6me),  341. 
Aigues-Mortes    (Bouches-du-Rhone),    11, 

66,  157,  377,  389,  390,  400. 
Airaines  (Somme),  45. 
Airvault  (Deux-Sevres),  321. 
Aix-en-Provence,  40,  330,  401,  403,  404. 
Albi  (Tarn),  Cathedral  of,  11,  13,  14,  279, 

329,  330,  370-375,  466;    choir  screen, 

373,  577;  vault  frescoes,  374,  519. 
Albigensian  Crusade,   11,   189,   330,  353, 

357,  358,  362,  363,  364,  365-370,  371, 

376,  383,  385,  386,  392,  394,  405. 
Alcobaga,  Cistercian  abbatial  of,  465. 
Alcuin,  4,  10,  149,  249. 
Aldegrevier  (vitrine  artist),  541. 
Alengon  (Orne),  542. 
Alencon,  the  Duke  d',  315,  515,  527. 
Aleth,  Blessed,  458,  463. 
Alexander  II,  Pope,  487. 
Alexander  III,  Pope,  91,  136,   149,  250, 

388,  433. 
Alienor  of  Aquitaine,  10,  60,  137,  138,  153, 

174,  254,  274,  293,  296,  297,  298,  317, 

318,  319,  320,  321,  326,  351,  353,  439, 

440,  465,  502,  531,  543. 
Alternate  system,  the,  80,  81,  93,  100,  127, 

164,  478,  481,  482,  486. 
Amboise  (Indre-et-Loire),  254,  304,  558, 

565. 


Amboise,  Cardinal  Georges  d'  (of  Rouen), 

373,  492,  513,  519,  558. 
Amboise,  Bishop  Jacques  d'  (of  Clermont), 

97,  335,  373,421. 

Amboise,  Bishop  Louis  d'  (of  Albi),  373, 374. 
Ambulatory,  19,  24,  45,  48,  51,  54,  58,  64, 

65,  92,  109,  124,  129,  150,  216,  278,  292, 

307,  337,  353,  398,  432,  569. 
America, United  States  of, 57, 367, 394, 429. 
Amiens  (Somme),  Cathedral  of,  12,  31,  34, 

39,  46,  55,  181,  197,  201,  202-210,  214, 

224,  225,  329,  331.  333,  351,  380,  425, 

475,  539,  581. 

Amyot,  Bishop  Jacques,  451. 
Angers  (Maine-et-Loire),  10,  13,  39,  255, 

286,  303,  309,  310;  Cathedral  of,  59,  113, 

146,  273,  302-309,  351,  550;    Fortress 

of,  309,  310;    St.  Jean's  Hospital,  310, 

311;  St.  Martin,  295,  305;   St.  Nicolas- 

du-Ronceray,  294,  295,  305;    St.  Serge, 

302,    311,    312;     Toussaint,    310,    321; 

Trinite,  300,  305. 
Angouleme  (Charente),  Cathedral  of,  287, 

290-293,  295,  352. 
Anjou,  counts  and  dukes  of,  173,  220,  269, 

271,  273,  274,  280,  408. 
Anjou,  Charles  I  d',  154,  156,  280,  295, 

299,  307,  309,  427,  465;  Charles  II  d', 

280,  309,  401,  402;   St.  Louis  d',  402; 

Louis  II  d',  280,  308,  309,  396. 
Anjou,  King  Rene.     See  Rene. 
Anne,  St.,  138,  181. 
Anne  of  Brittany,  67,  89,  256,  344,  373, 

557,  558,  565,  566,  567,  569. 
Annunzio,  Gabriele,  d',  107,  121. 
Anselm,  St.,  4,  34,  133,  173,  250,  260,  271, 

417,473,474,475,485. 
Anselm  de  Laon.     See  Laon. 
Anthony  of  Padua,  St.,  5,  350,  359. 
Antioch,  157,  298,  323,  345,  390,  554. 
Apocalypse,  the,  20,  98,  99,  144,  204,  217, 

219,  239,  309,  320,  347. 
Apostles  in  art,  the,  146,  182,  207,  208, 262, 

278,  321,  349,  352,  377,  389,  438,  561. 


NOTE. — The  heavy  figures  appearing  here  and  there  in  the  index  indicate  the  pages  in  which  a 
complete  description  of  the  subject  is  given.     The  other  figures  indicate  additional  references  t 
the  subject. 

583 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Apses,  notable,  65,  80,  93,  105,  115,  116,  Attila  the  Hun,  201,  231,  243. 

122,  129,  216,  232,  251,  275,  276,  421,  Aucassin  et  Nicolette,  396. 

486,  489,  536,  547,  554.  Auch  (Gers),  Cathedral  of,  358,  374. 

Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  2,  4,  41,  126,  130,  Augustine,  St.,  132,  158,  364,  449,  508. 

131,  132,  133,  134,  175,  238,  267,  334,  Augustus,  239-243,  257,  259,  424. 

359,  465,  475.  Aulnay  (Charente-Inferieure),  291. 

Aquitaine,  dukes  of,  10,  298,  318,  327,  347,  Autun  (Sa6ne-et-Loire),  Cathedral  of,  24, 

351,  384.  181,  416,  419,  423-426,  429. 

Arbrissel,  Robert  d'   (founder  of  Fonte-  Autun,  Honore  d',  262,  424. 

vrault),  294,  323.  Auvergne,  11,  38,  39,  249,  330,  331,  336, 

Archteology  of  the  Middle  Ages,  2,  13,  40,  337,  381;    Romanesque  school  of,   11, 

92,  552.  24,  38,  151,  254,  329,  331,  333,  337,  339, 

Archaeology,  modern  French  school  of,  32,  340,  343,  344,  360,  449. 

37-48,  415,  428,  576.  Auvergne,  Guillaume  d'  (Bishop  of  Paris), 

Architects,   mediaeval,  5,  34,  35,  39,  57,  133,  139,  140,  141,  469. 

66,  82,  93,  94,  96,  141,  146,  150,  152,  Auxerre  (Yonne),  224,  428,  445;    Cathe- 

163,  167,  177,  179,  190,  191,  204,  237,  dral  of,  7,  33,  115,  226,  242,  316,  429, 

276,  284,  251,  264,  271,  284,  299,  303,  446-451,  460;    glass  of,  449,  450,  451; 

334,  360,  380,  390,  406,  411,  457,  513,  sculpture  of,  447;    St.   Germain,   410, 

517,  518,  553,  559,  564.  445,  446,  572;  St.  Eusebe,  448. 

Architecture,  1,  4,  5,  7,  12,  15,  27,  56;  Avallon  (Yonne),  24,  428,  435,  441. 

X  century,  20,  21,  148,  411;    XI  cen-  Avignon  (Vaucluse),  209,  381,  388,  405- 

tury,  17,  19,  20,  21,  22,  23,  24,  34,  48,  409;   the  Avignon  popes,  330,  335,  347, 

117,  254,  270,  305,  314,  343,  349,  384,  353,  359,  368,  381,  386,  387,  388,  405, 

397,  481,  546,  554;  XII  century,  12,  22,  406,  407,  408,  409. 

31,  34,  41,  57,  58,  92,  104,  105,  108,  109,  Avila,  242,  264,  340,  465. 

115,  116,  119,  120,  124,  136,  137,  147,  A vranches  (Manche),  Cathedral  of,  2,  474, 

253,  270,  275,  287,  289,  291,  295,  300,  556. 

303,  313,  314,  320,  344,  381,  392,  403, 

406,  423,  428,  435,  446,  532,  537,  546, 

552,  554;   XIII  century,  12,  41,  65,  66,  Bacon,  Francis,  276. 

105,  110,  111,  139,  141,  146,  166,  177,  Bacon,  Roger,  134. 

190,  204,  237,  330,  436,  446,  489,  503,  Balmes,  J.  C.,  41. 

504,  538,  575,  576;  XIV  century,  12,  13,  Balzac,  Honore  de,  119,  247,  249,  312. 

65,  105, 130, 164, 187,  207,  232,  265,  330,  Bamburg,  Cathedral  of,  2,  77,  193. 

346,  377,  378,  381,  382,  386,  407,  408,  Bannalec  (Finistere),  560. 

447,  449,  489,  490,  509,  513,  514,  515,  Barbarian  invasions  in  France,  4,  18,  20, 

538,   555,   564,   576;   for  the  XV  and  28,  29,  36,  78,  107,  142,  172,  261,  325, 

XVI  centuries  see  Flamboyant  Gothic;  336,  337,  361,  411,  414,  472,  479,  483, 

XVII  century,  243,  561.  495,  510,  563. 
Arcis-sur-Aube,   239.  Bari,  Cathedral  of,  555. 
Arezzo  (Tuscany),  171,  374.  Barre,  Chevalier  de  la,  151. 
Aristotle,  344,  434.  Barres,  Maurice,  389,  398,  435. 
Argentan  (Orne),  542.  Bar-sur-Aube,  239. 

Aries  (Bouches-du-Rhone) ,  1 1 , 24, 397, 399 ;  Bar-sur-Seine,  239. 

St.  Trophime,  330,  336,  398,  399,  400.  Barzas-Brciz,  400,  556. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  264,  265.  Basly  (Calvados),  491. 

Arnoul,  Bishop  (of  Lisieux),  250,  531,  532,  Bassac  (Charente),  291. 

534.  Bayard,  Chevalier,  342. 

Arras  (Pas-de-Calais),  2,  556.  Bayeux  (Calvados),  Cathedral  of,  488,  508, 

Arthur  of  Brittany,  297,  308,  511.  545-551 . 

Artois,  Robert  d',  96,  156.  Bayonne  (Basses-Pyrenees),  Cathedral  of, 

Asnieres  (Maine-et-Loire),  314.  354,  569. 

584 


INDEX 

Bazin,  Rene,  259,  302,  415,  419,  580.  133,  142,  145,  208,  217,  233,  253,  273, 

Beaucaire  (Card),  396.  327,  358,  395,  418,  432,  434,  437,  470, 

Beauce,  Jehan  Texier,  called  de,  179,  180.  557. 

Beaulieu  (Correze),  24,  288.  Hiblia  pauperum  windows  and  sculpture, 

Beaumont,  Raoul  de,  306,  308;    family  of,  97, 184,  219,  233,  418,  437,  451,  462,  520, 

308,  550.  579. 

Beaumont-le-Roger  (Eure),  536,  541.  Bilson,    John,    archaeologist.      See    Bibli- 

Beaune  (Cote-d'Or),  hospital  and  collegiate  ography. 

of,  419,  426,  427.  Bishop-builders  of  French  cathedrals,  5, 

Beauneveu,  Andre  (sculptor),  67,  299,  327.  32,  79,  80,  86,  92,  93,  94,  95,  96,  105, 

Beauvais  (Oise),  3,  96,  100,  125, 127,  379,  136,  137,  138,  139,  140,  150,  172,  173, 

380,  425,  533,  534,  539;    Cathedral  of,  174,  189,  202,  215,  229,  231,  243,  250, 

224-230,  404,  577;   St.  Etienne,  45,  46,  251,  261,  263,  267,  270,  272,  275,  291, 

50-53,  224,  228.  299,  306,  334,  335,  344,  353,  354,  371, 

Beauvais,  Vincent  de,  9,  133,  134.  373,  377,  381,  447,  513,  538,  542,  546, 

Bee  (Eure),  Abbey  of,  125,  173,  473-476,  592. 

485,  487,  496,  502,  512.  Black  Prince,  the,  347,  355,  368,  378. 

Becket,  St.  Thomas,   11,  41,  91,  93,  94,  Blanche  of  Castile,  54,  86,  106,  107,  153, 

95,  97,  134,  136,  176,  184,  250,  261,  311,  154,  185,  225,  232,  234,  253,  299,  313, 

340,  432,  433,  446,  518,  527,  531,  532,  362,  398,  435.  508,  538. 

550,    556;    windows   of,   97,    184,   518,  Blois  (Loir-et-Cher),  121,  254,  558. 

550.  Bobbio  (Province  of  Pa  via),  monastery  of, 

Bedford,  John  Plantagenet,  Duke  of,  87,  411,  483. 

143,  489,  490,  523,  525,  527,  530,  535.  Bohemund  of  Taranto,  323,  337,  555. 

Bellefontaine  (Oise),  45.  Bologna,  134,  327,  364,  374,  446. 

Belloc,  Hilaire,  375,  548.  Bonaventure,  St.,  5,  41,  133,  134,  267,  268. 

Benedict,  St.,  4,  23,  411,  483.  Boniface  VIII,  Pope,  385. 

Benedict  XII,  Pope  (Avignon),  407.  Bonneuil-en-Valois,  45,  49. 

Benedictines,  7,  34,  54,  114,  117,  123,  124,  Bordeaux  (Gironde),  350-356;    Cathedral 

133,  148-151,  190,  278,  411,  476,  501,  of,  13,  31,  226,  298,  318,  330,  350-356, 

548,  554.  577;     Ste.    Croix,    318,    351,    355;     St. 

Berengaria  of  Navarre,  279,  296,  538.  Michel,  320;   St.  Seurin,  318,  351,  352, 

Berengar  of  Tours,  250,  487.  355,  356. 

Berland,  Pierre  (Archbishop  of  Bordeaux),  Born,  Bertran  de,  345,  348,  349. 

354,  355.  Boscherville.     See  St.  Georges  de. 

Bernard,  St.,  14,  34,  40,  63,  64,  91,  92,  93,  Bosham,  Herbert  of,  93. 

107,  133,  135,  152,  243,  246,  271,  273,  Bossuet,  121,  163,  167,- 247,  252,  253. 

298,  319,  321,  361,  362,  364,  367,  371,  Boston,  U.  S.  A.,  353,  394. 

412,  414,  418,  423,  430,  431,  434,  439,  Botrcl,  Theodor,  201. 

440,  441,  442,  453,  461^71,  503,  541,  Bouilhet,  Louis,  78. 

579  Bourbon  art  patrons,  185,  253,  259,  264, 

Bernay  (Eure),  Abbatial  of,  473,  481,  495,  265,  266,  295,  341,  357,  364,  406,  421, 

496,  541.  456,  513,  539. 

Bernieres-sur-mer  (Calvados),  491.  Bourdaloue,  212. 

Berry,  Jean,  Duke  de,  214,  220,  221,  222,  Bourges  (Cher),  Cathedral  of,  8,  11,  14, 

232    309,  320,  327,  329,  341,  342,  349,  211,  212-224,  226,  255,  275,  276,  320, 

353,  539.  322,  328,  454. 

Berzy-le-Sec  (Aisne),  45.  Bourget,  Paul,  339,  531. 

Bethisy-St.  Pierre  (Oise),  45.  Bourgonniere  chapel  in  Bouzilly  (Mame- 

Beze,  Theodore  de,  218,  441.  et-Loire),  322. 

Beziers  (Herault),  Cathedral  and  sack  of,  Bouvines,  1214  (Xord),  battle  of,  12,  32, 

330,  367,  369,  383,  405,  539.  70,  80,  122,  195,  453. 

Bible,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the,  9,  11,  58,  Boyle  (Co.  Roscommon),  Abbey  of,  464, 

585 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Braine  (Aisne),  St.  Yved  at,  99,  113,  116,        St.  Nicholas,  484,  493;   St.  Pierre,  488, 

121-125,185,284.  489,    490,    523,    570,    571;    Vaucelle's 

Brest  (Finistere),  560,  561.  tower,  491. 

Bridges,  mediaeval.  267,  289,  850,  371,  405,  Cahors  (Lot),  Cathedral  of,  24,  288,  289, 

407.  292,  407. 

Brienne  (Aube),  239.  Calixtus  II,  Pope,  151,  200,  250,  261,  288, 
Brienne,  Jean  de,  4,  70,  189.  291,  295,  360,  393,  417,  423,  453. 

Brioude  (Halite-Loire),  340.  Calixtus  III,  Pope,  529. 

Brittany,  11,  400,  556-575;  Calvaries  of,  Calvaries.     See  Brittany. 

400,  559,  560,  561,  574;  cult  of  the  dead  Cambrai  (Nord),  2,  81,  264,  556. 

in,  559,  561;   dukes  of,  297,  308,  566,  Cambrai,  Jean  de  (sculptor),  221,  266. 

567,  569;   glass  of,  559,  560,  563,  569;  Cambridge,  England,  407,  457. 

Gothic  of,  12,  557,  558,  559,  562,  563,  Cambronne  (Oise),  44,  45. 

570,  571;  Romanesque  of,  557,  562;  the  Candes  (Maine-et-Loire),  314,  316,  319. 

Renaissance  in,  559,  560,  561,  562,  563,  Canterbury,  archbishops  of,  173,  260,  410, 

564,  568.     See  Anne  of  Brittany.  432,  433,  434,  474,  475,  550;   Cathedral 

Brizeux,  A.,  570.  of,  3,  30,  93,  94,  173,  474,  475,  487,  532; 

Brou  (in  Bourg-en-Bresse),  the  church  of,       pilgrims,  94,  551. 

264,  265.  Captives,  redeeming  of  Christian,  6,  38, 
Brunetiere,  F.,  148.  42,  139,  369,  386,  404,  405. 

Bruno,  St.,  4,  117,  118,  194.  Carcassonne  (Aude),   11,  330,  339,  375- 
Bruyere  (Aisne),  45.  378;   Cathedral  of  St.  Nazaire,  349,  376, 

Burgos,  Cistercian  abbatial  of  Las  Huel-       377,  539. 

gas,  2,  264,  399,  465,  502.  Carentan  (Manche),  539,  541,  554. 

Burgundy,  21,  23,  39,  229,  410-470;  dukes  Carhaix  (Finistere),  561. 

of,  143,  154,  226,  261,  410,  425,  452,  453,  Carnac  (Morbihan),  400. 

454 ;    Franco-Flamand  school  of  sculp-  Carolingian  vestiges  and  times,  20,  56,  57, 

ture,  240,  255,  256,  281,  452,  455,  456,        77,  78,  84,  149,  171,  173,  224,  225,  249, 

567;  Gothic  of,  242,  410,  412,  413,  415,        250,  278,  283,  284,  305,  311,  324,  333, 

427,  436,  440,  443,  446,  447,  448,  464,       337,  411,  470,  471,  478,  480,  482. 
465;  Apogee  Gothic,  sculpture  of,  410-  Cartharist  heresy,  174,  362,  365,  366,  466. 
413,  444,  447,  449;  Romanesque  school  Carthusian  Order,  4,  117,  118,  194,  408; 
of,  23,  254,  340,  344,  360,  394,  422,  423,       the  Grande-Chartreuse,  118,  408. 

428,  437,     438,     439;      Romanesque,  Carville  (Seine-Inferieure),  492,  494. 
sculpture  of,  418,  422,  423,  424,  437,  457.  Casamari  (Province  of  Rome),  Cistercian 

Bury  (Oise),  44,  45,  150.  abbatial  of,  465. 

Buttresses,  25,  26,  27,  229,  352,  378,  412,  Castanets,  Bernard  de  (Bishop  of  Albi), 
413,  451,  481,  504;  flying  buttresses,  26,        371,  372. 

27,  46,  52,  117,  124,  129,  163,  179,  181,  Catalonia,  357,  380.     See  Gerona,  Poblet, 
187,  196,  225,  237,  260,  276,  292,  360,       Tarragona. 

413,  437,  443,  486,  554.  Cathedrals  of  France,  9,  42,  74,  193,  202, 
Byzantine  influences  in  French  art,  17,  18,  268,  575,  576,  578,  579;  Religious  fer- 
43,  59,  101,  120,  123,  137,  138,  180,  181,  vor  of  the  builders,  5,  8,  9,  23,  32,  33,  35, 
196,  234,  248,  249,  262,  287,  291,  292,  36,  42,  57,  115,  174,  175,  275,  338,  350, 
306,  322,  349,  398,  438,  486,  547.  472,  491,  512,  553,  578,  579,  580,  581. 

Catherine  of  Siena,  St.,  307,  388. 

r  Cauchon,   Bishop   Pierre,   225,   328,   523, 
524,  525,  529,  530,  531,  533,  534,  535, 
Caen  (Calvados),  10,  13,  30,  163,  478,  484-       536. 

491,  519,  520;  Abbaye-aux-Dames  (Ste.  Caudebec-en-Caud  (Seine-Inferieure),  474, 
Trinite),  164,  482,  484,  485;    Abbaye-       494,  518,  541. 

aux-Hommes   (St.  Etienne),  415,  482,  Cecile,  Abbess  (Trinite,  Caen),  485,  486. 

484,  486,  487,  488,  512,  532,  547,  554;  Cecilia,  St.,  14,  370-375,  485,  486. 

586 


INDEX 

Cefalu  (Palermo  province),  Cathedral  of,  Charles  Martel,  317,  388,  389,  436. 

555.  Charles  the  Bad,  Count  of  Evreux,  164, 
Ceffonds  (Aube),  239.  538,  539. 

Celle,  Pierre  de  (Bishop  of  Chartres),  114,  Chartier,  Alain,  143,  546. 

116,  170,  176,  190,  469.  Chartres,  Cathedral  of,  8,  14,  22,  33,  36, 
Celtic  element  in  France,  4,  11,  12,  21,  91,        39,   111,   113,   115,   122,   139,  170-187, 

135,  174,  177,  245,  336,  378,  384,  388,        197,  204,  207,  211,  212,  219,  220,  224, 

411,  483,  556,  558,  562,  563,  567,  572,        226,  234,  272,  279,  306,  318,  413,  475, 

574,  575,  577,  580.  490,  511,  512,  519,  541,  550,  581;  school 

Cerisy-la-Foret  (Manche),  473,  554,  573.       of  glass,  59,  101,   183,   184,  262,  519; 
Cervantes,  405.  sculpture  of,  175, 180,  181, 182,  288,  394; 

Chaalis  (Oise),  ruins  of  abbatial,  87,  215.        St.  Pierre,  172,  349,  539. 

Chaise    Dieu   (Haute- Loire),  abbatial   of  Chartres,  St.  Ives  of,  337. 

La,  330,  332,  335,  408,  566.  Chastellux,  Jean  de,  429. 

Chalons-sur-Marne,  424;   Cathedral  of,  7,  Chateaubriand,  70,  118,  410,  443,  562. 

241-244;   Notre  Dame,  33,  74,  90,  114-  Chateauneuf-du-Faou  (Finistere),  559. 

116,  415;  St.  Alpin,  243.  Chaucer,  372,  551. 

Chambiges,   Martin   (architect),  97,   152,  Chaumes,  Nicolas  de  (architect),  96,  167. 

226,  235;  Pierre  (architect),  89,  235.  Chaumont-sur-Loire,  373,  566. 

Champagne,  6,  7,  39,  66,  121,  162;    counts  Chauvanges  (Aube),  239. 

of,  94,  119,  120,  137,  157,  231,  232,  234,  Chauvigny  (Vienne),  320,  321. 

236,  244,  245,  246,  432,  464,  538;   fairs  Chelles  (Oise),  45. 

of,  6,  23S,  244,  245;    glass  of,  98,  118,  Chelles,  Jean  and  Pierre  de  (architects), 

150,  219,  233,  234,  235,  237,  238,  239,        141,  146. 

240,  241,  243;    Gothic  art  of,  114-120,  Cherbourg  (Manche),  554. 

188-197,  211,  213,  230-247;    Gothic  in-  Cherisy,  Nivelon  de  (Bishop  of  Soissons), 

fluence  of,  109,  115,  116,  190,  191,  193,        6,  41,  86,  108,  109,  110. 

202,    242,    244,    245,    246,    247,    448;  Chesterton,  Cecil,  579, 580. 

literature  of,  119,  245,  246;  sculpture  of,  Chevalier,  Etienne,  241,  342. 

113,  116,  117,  194,  195,  196.  Cheverus,  Cardinal  de,  352. 

Champeaux,    Guillaume    de    (Bishop    of  Chiaravalle  (Milan  province),  464,  465. 

Chalons),  41,  86,  104,  133,  176,  194,  243,  Chichester,  St.  Richard  of,  434,  435. 

466,  469,  474.  Chinon    (Indre-et-Loire),    254,    296,    315, 
Champigny-sur-Veude    (Indre-et-Loire),       526. 

254,  266.  Christian  persecutions,   the,   9,   56,    215, 
Chansons  de  geste,  42,  106,  135,  239,  245,        248,  252,  256,  257,  258,  259,  260,  263, 

246,  299,  343,  376,  384,  436,  500,  501,        436,  439. 

549,  580,  581.  Christopher,  St.,  553,  576. 

Chantilly  (Oise),  144,  328.  Cicero,  344,  411. 

Charite-sur-Loire,  abbatial  of,  254,  566.  Cistercian  Order  and  architecture,  4,  7,  34, 
Charlemagne,  9,   10,  20,  22,  57,  78,  86,        93,   104,  105,  106,  107,  215,  278,  361, 

105,   153,   184,  249,  344,  355,  356,  379,        412,  417,  430,  431,  461^65,  554;    in- 

501,  545.  fluence  of  Cistercian  Gothic,  461,  464, 

Charles  V,  Emperor,  144,  264.  465,  470,  471. 

Charles  V  of    France,  67,  144,  164,  209,  Clteaux   (Cote-d'Or),    34,   410,  412,  418, 

309,  353,  454,  520,  534,  539.  425,  431,  444,  462,  469. 

Charles  VI,  221,  327.  Civray  (Vienne),  291. 

Charles    VII,    118,    223,    233,    247,   255,  Clairvaux  (Yonne),  245,  430,  464,  467. 

278,  299,  483,  526,  527,  528,  529,  530,  Claudianus  Mamertus  (Bishop  of  Vienne), 

540.  261. 

Charles  VIII,  247,  256,  264,  558,  566.  Clearstory,  24,  92,  111,  115,  116,  124,  128, 
Charles  le  Temeraire,  Duke  of  Burgundy,        141,  183,  185,  205,  214,  242,  251,  276, 

226,  264,  266,  452.  353,  412,  413,  430,  478,  486,  506,  553. 

587 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Clement  IV,  Pope  (Guy  Fulcodi),  236,  381,  246,  250,  261,  263,  267,  268,  323,  337, 

392,  393.  338,  344,  370,  534,  540. 

Clement  V,  Pope  (Bertrand  de  Got),  261,  Cousin,  Jean  (vitrine  artist),  94,  98,  144. 

264,  320,  326,  327,  354,  353,  406,  515.  Cousin,  Victor,  133,  211. 

Clement  VI,  Pope,  335,  407,  408,  409,  497.  Coutances   (Manche),   Cathedral  of.   10, 

Clermont-Ferrand    (Puy-de-D6me),    334,  276,  488,  538,  539,  547,  550,  551-556. 

336,  373;    Cathedral  of,  10,  146,  203,  Coysevox  (sculptor),  259. 

205,  213,  330,  331-339,  346,  380,  381,  Cram,  Ralph  Adams,  91. 

519;  Council  of,  173, 337,  338,  344,  581;  Crawford,  F.  Marion,  439. 

Notre  Dame-du-Port,  330,  339,  340.  Crecy,  1346,  battle  of,  327,  487,  491. 

Cloisters,  sculptured,   82,   149,   254,  354,  Crestien  de  Troyes  (trouvere),  245. 

360,  361,  383,  398,  399,  503,  504,  573.  Creuil  (Oise),  45,  46. 

Clouet,  Jean  and  Francois,  256.  Crouy-sur-Ourcq  (Seine-et-Marne),  45,  48, 

Clovisand  Clotilda,  107,  118, 194,317,411,  405. 

446,  508.  Crown  of  Thorns,  the,  145,  159,  345. 

Cluny  (Saone-et-Loire),  2,  14,  22,  23,  24,  Crucifixion  windows.     See  Glass. 

34, 104,  149,  150,  163,  259,  266,  270,  318,  Crusades,  11,  31,  32,  299,  338,  365,  366, 

335,  360,  361,  373,  393,  410,  411,  412,  440,  581;   First  Crusade,  22,  118,  173, 

413,  414-421,  425,  438,  444,  457,  465,  194,  246,  250,  270,  294,  305,  323,  337- 

471,  473,  477,  512,  519.  339,  344,  345,  360, 449;  Second  Crusade, 

Coeur,  Jacques,  11,  222,  223,  528,  529,  541.  62,  70,  79,  274,  298,  339,  429,  439,  466, 

Cognac  (Charente),  291.  531;   Third  Crusade,  70,  94,  136,  143, 

Coliseum,  377.  367,  440,  514,  538;  Fourth  Crusade,  41, 

Cologne,  Cathedral  of,  132,  203,  225,  333;  110,    161,   231,   233,   246,   369;     Fifth 

St.  Gereon,  112,  122.  Crusade,  70,  159;   Sixth  Crusade,  154, 

Colombe,  Michel  (sculptor),  67,  254,  255,  155,  159,  390,  400,  553,  581;    Seventh 

256,  264,  279,  280,  281,  342,  513,  519,  Crusade,  120,  157,  158,  162,  262,  390, 

558,  563,  567-568.  391,  514. 

Columbanus,  St.,  4,  122,  410,  411,  412,  Crusading-bishops,  6,  41,  79,  81,  82,  86, 

457,  464,  483,  509.  97,   110,  111,  139,  189,  190,  206,  231, 

Commendatory  abbots,  420,  483,  507.  233,  248,  334,  344,  345,  514,  531,  538, 

Communes,  mediaeval,  7,  8,   12,  32,  74,  547,  549. 

62,  79,  102,  103,  262,  416,  435,  437,  439.  Crypts  of  France,  noted,  19,  22,  65,  168, 

Como,  Church  of  S.  Abondio,  29,  338.  172,  215,  224,  225,  259,  283,  287,  339, 

Compiegne  (Oise),  47,  77,  143,  226,  534.  399,  401,  429,  446,  457,  486,  547,  566. 

Comtat-Venaissin,  the,  405,  408,  409.  Cunault  (Maine-et-Loire),  314. 

Conches  (Eure),  Church  of  Ste.  Foi,  536,  Cupola  churches,   18,  24,   151,  227,  285, 

541.  286,  287-295,  300,  303,  324.  344,  403. 

Congres  Archeologique  de  France,  38,  50,  78,  Cyprus,  38,  154,  237,  381,  436,  538. 

84,  92,  etc. 

Conques  (Aveyron),  Abbatial  of  Ste.  Foi,  ^) 

250,  360,  415. 

Constantine,  Emperor,  215,  398,  507.  Dagobert,  51,  57,  67,  80. 

Constantinople,  6,  41,  204,  234,  261,  268,  Dammartin,  Guy  de,  221,  277,  327,  341, 

270,  289,  298,  317,  345,  420,  427,  436.  387,  454;   Andre  de,  221,  232,  277,  341, 

Corbeil,  Pierre  de  (Archbishop  of  Sens),  95,  454;    Jean   de,   221,   255,   277;    Guil- 

234.  laume  de,  566. 

Cordova,  379.  Dance  of  Death  frescoes,  335,  565,  566. 

Corpus  Christi  feast,  238,  243,  427.  Daniel,  233,  580. 

Cosmati,  the  (artists),  29,  387.  Dante,  9,  133,  137,  141,  147,  148,  150,  153, 

Coucy-le-Chateau  (Aisne),  102,  313.  156,  245,  253,  349,  357,  363,  441,  462, 

Coulanges,  Fustel  de,  42.  465,  474. 

Councils  of  the  Church,  91,  117,  189,  206,  Daudet,  Alphonse,  259,  396. 

588 


David,  9,  437,  447. 

Da  Vinci,  Leonardo,  193. 

Delorme,  Philibert,  259. 

Deschamps,  Jean  and  Pierre  (architects), 

334,  346. 

Deviation  of  axis,  68,  69,  136,  320,  569. 
Dieppe  (Seine-Inferieure),  494,  518. 
Dies  irce,  128,  217,  317. 
Dijon  (Cote-d'Or),   11,  13,  40,  255,  314, 


482,  487,  502,  516,  517,  518,  520,  549, 
550,  552,  563.  See  Henry  I,  Henry  II, 
Henry  III,  the  Black  Prince,  St.  Thomas 
Becket,  St.  Stephen  Harding,  John  of 
Salisbury,  etc. 

English  architecture,  30,  93,  94,  99,  227, 
296,  299,  301,  354,  407,  412,  482,  487, 
495,  497,  516,  520,  523,  524,  533,  547. 
See  Canterbury,  Durham,  Ely,  etc. 
452-461;  Cathedral  of  St.  Benigne,  22,  Enlart,  Camille,  archaeologist.  See  Bibli- 
410,  415,  452,  453,  456-459;  Franco-  ography. 

Flemish  school  of  sculpture,  255,  256,    Entombments   (Holy  Sepulcher  groups), 
281,    327,    373,    454,    455,    456,    567;        225,239,280,281,282,497. 
Notre  Dame,  413,  443,  452,  453,  459-    Ervy  (Yonne),  239,  322. 
461 ;  Fontaine-les-Dijon,  463.  Escorial,  the,  283. 

Dinan  (Cotes-du-Nord),  541,  562.  Espine,  Jean  de  1'  (architect),  308,  311. 

Dol  (Ille-et-Vilaine),  539,  557,  559,  563,    Estouteville  family,  the  d',  497,  518,  555; 
564.  Cardinal  Guillaume  d',  506,  513,  517, 

Domenico  Florentine  (sculptor),  67,  240,        529;   Louis  d',  505,  529. 

241.  Etampes  (Seine-et-Oise),  112,  511. 

Dominic,  St.,  5,  41,  128,  363,  364,  376.  Eu    (Seine-Inferieure),    Abbatial    of     St. 

Dominican  Order,  134,  327,  330,  358,  364,        Laurent,  473,  498,  499,  513,  532,  555. 

369,  373,  402,  420,  524,  528.  Eu,  Geoffrey  d'  (Bishop  of  Amiens),  206, 

Doue,  Normand  de  (Bishop  of  Le  Mans), 

306,  308. 

Drayton,  Michael,  490. 
Dreux,  family  of,  122,  185,  190. 
Dubois,  Paul,  201,  568. 
Duguesdin,   Bertrand   de,   67,   266,   327, 

342,  557,  562. 
Dunois,  batard  d'Orleans,  77,  355,  527,    Exeter,  Cathedral  of,  407. 

529,  534.  Eymoutiers  (Haute- Vienne),  350,  541. 

Durandus,  Guillaume    (author  of  Ration- 
ale), 19,  69,  214,  267,  359,  387,  400,  401.  p 
Diirer,  Albert,  144,  347,  541. 
Durham,  Cathedral  of,  30,  31,  492,  493,    Fabian,  Pope,  336,  399. 

532,  545.  Facades,  noted  church,  51,  89,  97,   105, 

129,  191,  192,  207,  217,  226,  235,  254, 
271,  291,  292,  307,  323,  343,  347,  353, 
Ecole  des  Chartes,  25,  37,  38,  50,  545.  406,  460,  514,  518,  548,  553. 

Ecouen  (Seine-et-Oise),  144.  Falaise  (Calvados),  489,  544. 

Edmund  Rich,  St.  (Archbishop  of  Canter-    Fecamp    (Seine-Inferieure),    Abbatial    of, 

bury),  4,  41,  434,  435.  478,  482,  494^98,  502,  532,  554. 

Edward  I  of  England,  390,  485. 
Elbeuf  (Seine-Inferieure),  518. 
Elizabeth  of  Hungary,  St.,  53,  54,  112,  122, 

280,  313. 
Elne  (Pyrenees-Orientales),  382,  383 


499. 
Eugene  III,  Pope,  152,  243,  430,  458,  464, 

466. 

Eustace,  St.,  91,  152. 
Evreux  (Eure),  Cathedral    of,    518,  529, 

536-541;    XlV-century   glass  of,   539, 

540. 


E 


Fenelon,  36,  288. 

Fenesiration,  development  of  Gothic,  25, 
20,  51,  55,  111,  128,  146,  164,  183,  205, 
213,  214,  227,  228,  234,  235,  237,  251, 
262,  276,  292,  322,  333,  340,  377,  380, 
406,  413,  431,  441,  450,  459,  478,  486, 
488,  506,  51!),  539,  548,  553,  554. 

Ferdinand  of  Spain,  St.,  299. 


Eloi,  St.  (Bishop  of  Noyon),  80,  83,  240 

249,  349. 

Ely,  Cathedral  of,  3,  482,  487,  516. 
Enamel,  Limoges,  172,  273,  314,  341,  349.    Ferrero,  Guglielmo,  329 
England,  11,  105,  351,  416,  426,  430,  478,    Feudal  system,  the,  11,  31,  61,  63,  92,  102 

589 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

104,  105,  151,  156,  160,  195,  225,  262,  Fulbert,  of  Chartres,  Bishop,  22,  41,  170, 

271,  296,  299,  304,  305,  310,  313,  337,  171,  172,  173,  174,  176,  194. 

349,  351,  362,  369,  370,  376,  383,  390,  Fulk  III,  Nerra,  Count  of  Anjou,  254, 

394,  439,  455,  487,  531,  545,  550,  555.  274,  296,  302,  304,  305,  310,  314,  315, 

Fiesole,  Jerome  of,  256,568;  Minoda,497.  550. 

Flamboyant  Gothic,  13,  89,  118,  146,  152,  Fulk  IV,  Count  of  Anjou,  295,  304. 

167,  207,  217,  222,  226,  227,  228,  232,  Fulk  V,  Count  of  Anjou,  173,  272,  295,  304. 

233,  237,  239,  244,  252,  254,  265,  271,  Furness  Abbey  (Lancashire),  464. 

277,  301,  309,  314,  327,  335,  347,  354, 

372,  380,  387,  403,  415,  425,  447,  473,  r 

506,  513,  516,  517,  518,  521,  529,  530, 

539,  541,  542,  558,  559,  565,  569,  571,  Gaillon  (Eure),  Chateau  of,  373,  513,  558. 

573.  Gallo-Roman  bishops  and  times,  21,  86, 

Flandrin,  H.,  259.  117,  118,  148,  164,  193,  194,  208,  231, 

Flaubert,  Gustave,  519.  243,  248,  325,  331,  336,  337,  340,  349, 

Flavigny  (C6te-d'Or),  224,  410,  428,  429.  394,  396,  398,  399,  429,  433,  515,  579. 

Fleac  (Charente),  291.  Gargoyles,  8,  139,  142,  239,  358,  372,  461. 

Flemish  influences  in  French  art,  6,  44,  Gassicourt  (Seine-et-Oise),  163. 

67,  209,  240,  263,  264,  309,  373,  404,  Gautier,  Leon,  133,  135,  162,  245,  356,  500, 

426,  427,  454,  455,  456,  567.  501,  520,  542. 

Flodoard  (chronicler),  20.  Gelasius  II,  Pope,  388,  417. 

Florence,  Cathedral  of,  3,  30,  406.  Genesis,  145,  253. 

Foch,  General,  106,  375,  581.  Genevieve,  St.,  71,  72,  73,  98,  133,  445. 

Folgoet  (Finistere),  Collegiate  at,  558,  559.  Gennes  (Marne-et-Loire),  314. 

Fontenay  (Yonne),  7,  410,  428,  430,  431.  Genoa,  466,  497,  511. 

Fontevrault  (Maine-et-Loire),  Abbatial  of,  Gensac   (Charente),  291. 

10,  274,  286,  291,  294,  313,  315,  318,  328.  Gentil,  Frangois  (sculptor),  241. 

See  Plantagenet  tombs.  Geoffrey  the  Handsome,  Count  of  Anjou, 

Fontfroide  (Aude),  Cistercian  abbatial  of,  271,  272,  273,  274,  295,  304. 

380,  381,  407.  Geoffrey,  Abbot  (of  Vendome),  271,  272, 

Fortified  churches  in  the  Midi,  332,  359,  337,  436. 

368,  382,  383.  Gerard,  Bishop  (of  Angouieme),  291   292. 

Fortunatus  Venantius  (Bishop  of  Poitiers),  Gerbert  (Sylvester  II),  171,  194. 

10,  316,  317,  318,  322,  324.  Germanic  influences  on  French  architec- 

Fossanuova  (province  of  Rome),  Cister-  ture,  21,  48,  81,  84,  109,  124,  142,  164, 

cian  Burgundian  church,  132,  465.  243,  336,  347,  449,  567,  580,  588. 

Fouilloy,  Evrard  de  (Bishop  of  Amiens),  Germany,  architecture  in,  27,  77,  81,  99, 

206.  223,  288,  307    464    569.     See  Rhenish 

Fountains  Abbey  (Yorkshire),  3,  464.  school. 

Fouquet,  Jean,  254,  256,  342.  Gerona  (Catalonia),  380,  386. 

Francis  of  Assisi,  St.,  4,  101,  131,  465.  Gerson,  Chancellor  Jean,   143,  242,  247, 

Francis  I,  67,  89,  172,  344,  518,  534.  264,  534. 

Francis  II,  Duke  of  Brittany,  tomb  of,  Giotto,  29,  267,  402. 

558,  567,  568.  Glaber,  Raoul  (chronicler;,  22,  414,  458. 

Franciscan  Order,  218,  268,  317,  330,  359,  Glass,  stained:   XH-century,  10,  55,  58- 

364,  420.  60,  97,  98,  118,  144,  183,  184,  219,  244, 

Frederick  II,  Emperor,  132,  267.  272,  279,  307,  308,  321;   Kill-century, 

Freeman,  E.  H.,  412,  490.  10,  59,  97,  98,  101,  118,  143,  145,  146, 

Frescoes  in  French  churches,  288,  314,  320,  172,  180,  184,  185,  186,  219,  234,  252, 

321,  335,  344,  349,  374,  375,  405,  407,  262,  278,  321,  449,  450,  511,  519,  539; 

408,  409,  511.  XlV-century,  98,   172,  220,  234,  237, 

Froissart,   210,   327,   347,   349,  368,  408  244,  252,  325,  341,  377,  382,  444,  539, 

455.  543;    XV-century,  118,  185,  222,  223. 

590 


240,  244,  253,  265,  277,  350,  520,  540,    Guildsmen    donors    and    artisan    artists, 
541,  569;  XVI-century,  51,  98,  144,  220,        mediaeval,  6,  7,  8,  25,  34,  55,  57,  58,  62, 
223,  228,  233,  234,  235,  238,  239,  240,        79,  98,  102,  103,  141,  143,  184,  186,  210, 
244,  254,  264,  307,  374,  451,  513,  535,        219,  220,  222,  228,  233,  234,  235,  239, 
539,  541;   XVII-century,  224,  234,  240;        240,  241,  244,  253,  275,  278,  284,  415, 
grisaille  glass,  172,  237,  431,  450,  540,        422,  430,  435,  439,  464,  478,  503,  514, 
543;     camdieu    glass,    144,    239,    243;        540,  550,  558,  578,  580,  581. 
abrasion,  540;    quarries,  540;  Creation   Guillaume  of  the   White   Hands,   Arch- 
windows,    239,    240,    451;     Crucifixion        bishop  (of  Rheims),  94,  118,  176,  194. 
windows,  10,  32,  243,  39,  237,  322,  520;    Guillaume  VIII,  Duke  of  Aquitaine,  318, 
New  Alliance  windows,  97,   185,  219,        351;     Guillaume   IX,    291,    298,   318, 
220,   253,    260,   262,   424;    Jesse  Tree       323,351;   Guillaume  X,  292,  298,  319, 
windows,   59,   183,  228,  234,  238,  240,        321,  354. 
253,  278,  517,  541;    Pressoir  windows,    Guimiliau  (Finistere),  561. 
238,  240,   541;    Renaissance  glass,  98,    Guingamp  (C6tes-du-Nord),  557,  559,  560, 
115,  144,  223,  224,  233,  234,  240,  241,        562. 
243,  449,  451,  513,  539,  541.  Guizot,  36,  103,  296,  297,  536. 

Glennes  (Aisne),  45. 

Gloucester,  Cathedral  of,  482,  487,  519.  H 

Golden  Legend  (Legenda  Aurea),  9,  85,  97, 

220,  400.  Haimon,  Abbot,  174,  491,  492. 

Gontier,  Linard  (vitrine  artist),  234,  238,    Halberstadt,  Cathedral  of,  3,  77. 

240,  241.  Hambye  Abbey  (Manche),  ruins  of,  473, 

Gothic   architecture,   3,   17,   25,   26,   27,       554. 

29,   36,    113,    123,   202,  246,  426,  459,    Hanoteau,  Gabriel,  400,  503,  521. 

575,  576,  578;   birth  of,  42-52,  55,  123;    Harcourt  family,  529,  540,  546,  548. 

definition  of,  16,  17,  22,  26,  31,  36;  first    Harding,  Abbot  Stephen  (of  Citeaux),  4, 

Gothic  vaults,  27,  31,  39,  44,  45,  46,       41,  431,  462,  463,  464. 

287,478,479,481;  sporadic  examples  of    Harfleur      (Seine-Inferieure),     492,    494, 

early  Gothic  vaults,  31,  48,  351,  355,        529. 

361,  384,  387,  389,  437;   Gothic  schools    Harold  II,  king  of  England,  549,  550. 

in  France,  211;   structural  development    Haslin,  Nicolas  (sculptor),  240. 

of  Gothic,  43,  44,  45,  46,  48,  50,  52,  55,    Hastings,  1066,  battle  of,  545,  549,  552. 

56,  81,  82,  100,  110,  115,  116,  124,  127,    Heloiise,  133,  419. 

131,  138,  150,  229,  237,  377,  479,  514;    Henry  I,  of  England,  234,  295,  304,  485, 

ending  of  Gothic  art,  576,  577,  578;  neo-        492,  494,  537,  546. 

classic  contempt  for  Gothic,   36,   114,    Henry  II,  Plantagenet,  5,  10,  67,  68,  91, 

130,  187,  308,  424,  450.  93,  94,   153,  250,  269,  271,  273,  274, 

Goujon,  Jean  (sculptor),  515,  517.  275,  290,  293,  295,  296,  298,  304,  312, 

Grandlieu  (Loire-Inferieure),  224.  317,  319,  320,  321,  326,  348,  351,  433, 

Gregory  the  Great,  Pope,  181,  426.  434,  495,  498,  502,  511,  531,  532,  550, 

Gregory  VII,  Pope,  22,  34,  250,  364,  412,       556. 

415,  416,  422,  508,  545,  546.  Henry  III  of  England,  154,  293,  352,  434. 

Gregory  X,  Pope,  267,  268.  485. 

Gregory  XI,  Pope,  335,  387,  388.  Henry  V  of  England,  476,  483,  490,  505, 

Gregory  of  Tours,  Bishop,  248,  249,  304,        529,  534. 

331,  332,  336,  399.  Henry  VI  of  England,  143,  265,  266. 

Grenoble  (Izere),  Church  of  St.  Laurent,    Henry  VII,   Tudor,  573. 
225  343  Henry  VIII,  416,  435,  518. 

Grosseteste,  Robert  (Bishop  of  Lincoln),    Henry  II  of  France,  < 'J-  144'  172' 

134   263  Henry  IV  of  France,  69,  147,  185,  219,  241, 

GuerangenDom  Prosper,  280,  281,  321.  255,265266,425 

Guerin,  Bishop  (of  Senlis),  86,  87.  Herlouin,  Abbot  (of  Bee),  373. 

38  591 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Hilary,  St.  (Bishop  of  Portiers),  10,  317,  Irenseus,  St.  (Bishop  of  Lyons),  5,  257, 

318,  321,  323,  324,  344,  364.  258. 

Histoire  Litteraire  de  la  France,  41,  55,  150,  Irish  missionaries,  4,  22,  410,  411,  449, 

etc.     See  Bibliography.  463,  480,  498,  560,  574. 

Hoel,  Bishop  (of  Le  Mans),  269,  270,  278,  Isabeau  of  Bavaria,  233,  327. 

280,  337.  Isabelle   of   Angoul&ne,    193,    293,    297, 

Holbein,  221.  313,  326. 

Holycross  Abbey  (Co.  Tipperary),  3.  Isaias,  9,  234. 

Honnecourt,  Villard  de,  34,    38,  101,  102,  Issoire  (Puy-de-D6me),  340. 

122,  190,  280,  282,  284,  553.  Italian  influences  in  France,  67,  144,  239, 

Hospitals,  medieval,  80,  86,  96,  298,  310,  240,  241,  243,  255,  279,  324,  361,  373, 

311,  323,  426,  427.  374,  375,  384,  456,  466,  474,  478,  479, 

Hugh,  St.  (Bishop  of  Lincoln),  194,  263.  493,  497,  555,  564. 

Huguenots.     See  Sixteenth-century  reli-  Italy,  Gothic  in,  10,  23,  28,  29,  38,  61,  185, 

gious  wars.  261,  345,  381,  411,  431,  464,  465,  479, 

Hugues,  St.  (Abbot  of  Cluny),  22,  34,  270,  554,  555. 

337,  414,  416,  417,  421,  440.  , 
Hugues  de  St.  Victor.     See  Paris,  Abbey 

of  St.  Victor.  Jacquemart- Andre,  Mme.,  89. 

Humbert,  Alberic  de,  6,  41,  139,  189,  370,  Jaime  el   Conquistador,   267,   280,   334, 

371.  385,  386. 

Hundred  Years'  War,  52,  69,  71,  72,  73,  James,  St.,  185,  222,  250,  451. 

97,  108,  165,  221,  225,  227,  228,  252,  James,  Henry,  218. 

327,  347,  368,  371,  378,  447,  455,  489,  Jarenton,  Abbot  (of  St.  Benigne,  Dijon), 

490,  499,  503,  505,  506,  507,  509,  538,  337,  414,  458. 

570,  571,  573.  Jean  le  Bon,  king  of  France,  308,  309,  327, 

Hungary,  280,  284.  454. 

Huysmans,   J.   K.,    100,   128,    144,    170,  Jean  sans  Peur,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  143, 

280,  284,  321,  415,  460.  264,  265,  452,  523,  534. 

Hymns,  mediaeval,  128,  130,  135,  238,  261,  Jeanne  d'Arc,  St.,  13,  70,  71,  72,  73,  77, 

317,  345,  468.  87,  143,  152,  162,  166,  167,  168,  191, 

192,  197,  201,  221,  222,  223,  225,  226, 

233,  247,  254,  255,  296,  298,  315,  328, 

Ile-de-France,  12,  24,  30,  31,  44,  45,  46,  338,  355,  356,  447,  448,  455,  476,  483, 

49,  78,  113,  114,  141,  211,  225,  242,  269,  497,  504,  505,  506,  508,  509,  520,  521- 

275,  276,  285,  337,  478,  479,  482,  494,  531,  533,  534,  535,  536,  544,  548,  555, 

495,  514,  543,  547,  564.  577. 

Imitation  of  Christ,   143,  263,  470,  503,  Jeanne  of  Navarre  and  Champagne,  119, 

535.  120,  162,  166,  167,  232,  246,  247,  538. 

Ingeborg  of  Denmark,  80,  94.  Jeannin,  President,  423,  425. 

Innocent   II,    Pope,    79,    291,  417,  423,  Jerome,  St.,  9,  182, 444. 

437.  Jerusalem,  119,  142,  145,  154,  157,  274, 

Innocent  III,  Pope,  41,  95,  110,  134,  135,  304,  311,  410,  485,  500,  508,  560,  561, 

138,  139,  206,  234,  299,  364,  369,  370,  581. 

385,  392,  394,  404,  465.  Jesse  Tree  windows.     See  Glass,  stained. 

Innocent  IV,  Pope,  264,  278,  327,  419.  Jesus  Christ,  iconography  of,  98,  120,  137, 

Innocent  VI,  Pope  (Avignon),  267,  278,  142,  180,  183,  195,  199,  207,  208,  239, 

335,  374,  408.  240,  241,  288,  292,  317,  321,  322,  361, 

Innsbruck,  tomb  of  Maximilian  I  in,  264.  373,  423,  438,  450,  520,  540,  560,  561, 

Inquisition,  the,  364,  368,  371.  574. 

Ipres,  2,  110,  193,  242.  Jews  in  the  Middle  Ages,  12,  247,  336,  379, 

Ireland,  5,  153,  155,  404,  411,  463,  464,  408,  463,  468,  490. 

498,  Job,  Book  of,  217,  233. 

592 


INDEX 


Joffre,  General,  198,  375.  Lampaul  (Finistere). 

John  the  Baptist,  St.,  146,  182,  210,  259,  Landrieux,  Monseigneur,  188,  199. 

347,  366,  408,  438,  441.  Langeais  (Indre-et-Loire),  566. 

John  the  Evangelist,  St.,  9,  68,  204,  217,  Langlois,  Jean  (architect),  237. 

219,  257,  259,  262,  281,  294,  310,  361,  Langres  (Haute-Marne),  424,  526. 

396,  438,  441.  Langrune  (Calvados),  526. 

John  Lackland,  king  of  England,  275,  293,  Langton,  Archbishop  Stephen,  11,  41,  134, 

297,  298,  299,  308,  313,  487,  503,  511,  432. 

537,  564.  Languedoc,  11,  23,  24,  42,  356,  357,  361, 

John  XXII,  Pope,  264,  288,  289,  387,  407.  362,    365,    368,    370,    380,    384,    387; 

Johnson,  Lionel,  165.  Romanesque  school  of,  24,  28,  360,  361; 

Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  294,  431.  Romanesque  sculpture  of,  360,  361. 

Joinville,  Jean,  Sire  de,  41,  70,  111,  119,  Lannion  (C6tes-du-Nord),  557. 

120,  138,  140,  152-162,  166,  190,  206,  Laon   (Aisne),   102,   103,   104,   106,  531; 

219,  244,  245,  246,  247,  306,  312,  313,  Cathedral  of,  7,  12,  32,  40,  74,  75,  76, 

326,  342,  399,  553. 
Jouarre  (Seine-et-Marne),  crypt  of,   168, 

225,  411. 
Joubert,  J.,  290. 

Jube,  or  rood  screen,  239,  244,  247,  347,  Laon,  Anselm  de,  104,  474,  512. 

373,  558,  560.  La  Roche-Maurice  (Finistere),  560. 

Judith  of  Brittany,  Duchess  of  Normandy,  Lasteyrie,  Comte  Robert  de.     See  Bibli- 

501.  ography. 

Juliot,  the  (sculptors  of  Troyes),  235,  240,  Last   Judgment,   representation   of,    147, 

241.  181,  195,  199,  217,  218,  375,  423,  426, 

Jumieges  (Seine-Inferieure),  ruins  of,  23,  564. 

116,  224,  "411,  415,  480-483,  496,  509.  Lateran,  Church  of  the,  387;  4th  Council 

Juste,  the  (sculptors),  67,  564,  565.  of,  189,  206,  370. 

Latin  influences  and  vestiges  in  French  art, 
4,  9,  11,  18,  19,  21,  28,  30,  61,  193, 
249,  257,  263,  270,  318,  336,  353,  384, 
388,  389,  394,  398,  399,  400,  401,  403, 


77,  99-106,  575,  581;  its  glass  and 
sculpture,  101;  its  fagade,  105;  St. 
Martin,  105,  106;  Templar's  church, 
99,  106. 


K 


Kensington  Museum,  353. 

Kernascleden  (Morbihan),  559.  416,  418,  422,  424,  479,  567,  577,  579, 

Keystones  of  Gothic  vaults,  37,  48,  104,       580. 

150,  166,  301,  314,  444,  513.  La  Trappe  (Orne),  Souligny,  418,  542. 

Koran,  the,  419.  Laurana,  Francisco  (sculptor),  279,  406. 

Kreisker  Tower,  the.    See  St.  Pol-de-Leon.    Laurence,  St.,  224,  283. 

Lavardin,  Hildebert  de,  41,  250,  269,  270, 

271,  272,  275,  279. 
Lavisse,  Ernest,  76. 

Lacordaire,  J.  B.  H.  D.,  128,  430,  453,  462.    Lay-Ecclesiastic  Controversy,  the,  91,  94, 
Lady  chapel,  52,  203,  498,  515,  533,  540,        154,  173,  260,  267,  271,  282,  340,  432, 

555,  569.  433,  434,  441,  475,  532,  556. 

Lafayette  family,  burial  place  of,  335.  Lazarus,  395,  396,  424,  428,  436,  501,  580. 


Lafenestre,  George,  484. 


Le  Braz,  Anatole,  556,  568. 


La  Ferte-Milon  (Seine-et-Marne),  534.        Lecuyer,  Jean   (vitrine  artist),  223,  224. 


Laffaux  (Aisne),  45. 

La  Fontaine,  242. 

Laic  theory,  the,  32,  100. 

Lamartine,  Alphonse  de,  445. 

Lamballe  (C6tes-du-Nord),  559. 

Lambin,  Emile.     See  Bibliography. 

Lamoriciere,  General  de,  568. 


Lefevre-Pontalis,  Eugene.  See  Bibliog- 
raphy. 

Le  Mans  (Sarthe),  10,  274,  279,  349,  406, 
454,  541;  Cathedral  of,  13,  59,  125, 
211,  212,  255,  268-279,  304,  315,  321, 
351,  553;  glass  of,  59,  220,  276,  277,  278; 
St.  Julieti  du  Pre  and  the  Couture 
593 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

church,  278,  280;  Henry  II  of  England  Loctudy  (Finistere),  557. 

in  Le  Mans,  274.  Loire,  the,   10,  247.  254,  255.  304,  449, 

Lenoncourt,    Robert    de  (Archbishop    of  565,  566. 

Rheims),  118,  198,  255.  Lombard  architecture,  17,  24,  28,  29,  32, 

Leo  IX,  Pope,  117,  542.  44,  478,  479,  481,  493;  influences  of,  28, 

Leo  XIII,  Pope,  130,  385,  422,  521.  247,  360,  384,  395,  478,  481,  486,  493, 

Le6n,  Cathedral  of,  3,  242.  495. 

Le  Pot,  Nicolas,  51,  228.  Lombard,  Pierre,  133,  134. 

Le   Prince,   Engrand    (and   sons,   vitrine  London,  486,  491,  517. 

artists),  51,  144,  228,  517.  Longpont  (Aisne),  Abbey  of,  107,  147,  431. 

Le   Puy    (Haute-Loire),    342,    371,    566;  Longueil,    Olivier    de   (Bishop    of    Cou- 

Cathedral  of,  343,  344,  345;  St.  Michel  tances),  555. 

d' Aiguille,  343.  Loti,  Pierre,  199,  200,  561. 

Lerens,  Island  of,  411.  Lotte,  Joseph,  499,  536. 

Le  Roux,  Rouland  (architect),  307,  498,  Louis  VI,  61,  122,  151. 

518,  519.  Louis  VII,  57,  60,  62,  70,  79,  84,  137,  138, 

Les  Andelys  (Seine-Inferieure),  512,  513,  174,  245,  248,  250,  298,  299,  317,  351, 

520.  439. 

Les  Iff  (Ille-et-Vilaine),  541,  559.  Louis  VIII,  69,  86,  96,  262. 

Les  Noes  (Aube),  238.  Louis  IX,  St.  Louis,  5,  9,  12,  14,  41,  52, 

Les   Saintes-Maries  (Bouches-du-Rhone),  53,  54,  65,  66,  67,  70,  71,  86,  96,  106, 

239,  395,  396,  397.  107,  118,  132,  135,  140,  143,  145,  152- 

Lessay  (Manche),  473,  493,  512,  554.  162,  177,  184,  185,  193,  206,  218,  232, 

Leves,  Geoffrey  de  (Bishop  of  Chartres),  248,  283,  299,  309,  310,  313,  314,  327, 

60,  170,  173,  174,  181,  319,  361,  362,  334,  336,  375,  378,  390,  410,  435,  441, 

469.  489,  514,  538,  553,  579,  593. 

Liebnitz,  414.  Louis  XI,  247,  255,  265,  309,  314,  452, 

Liguge  (Vienne),  321.  504,  540. 

Lille  (Nord),  226.  Louis  XII,  67,  89,  96,  97,  373,  497,  534, 

Limoges    (Haute- Vienne),    Cathedral   of,  558,  565,  566. 

203,  334,  345-348,  380,  407,  408,  539;  Louis  XIV,  70,  384,  405. 

St.  Martial,  336,  345,  346,  348;  enamels  Louis  XV  and  Louis  XVI,  70. 

of,  172,  341,  345,  349.  Louis-Philippe,  66,  157. 

Lincoln,  Cathedral  of,  31,  134,  194,  298,  Loup,  St.  (Bishop  of  Troyes),  231. 

449,  516,  532.  Loutil,  Abbe  (Pierre  1'Hermite),  129. 

Lincoln,  St.  Hugh  of,  194,  263,  296.  Louviers  (Eure),  518,  536. 

Lisieux   (Calvados),   Cathedrals  of,   113,  Lowell,  James  Russell,  100,  170. 

531-536;  St.  Jacques,  518,  535.  Loyola,  St.  Ignatius,  151. 

Litchfield,  Cathedral  of,  516.  Lozinga,    Herbert  (Bishop   of   Norwich), 

Literature  in  the  Middle  Ages,  4,  7,  9,  18,  494,  496. 

31,  135,  150,  400;  Xl-century,  106,  133,  Luce,  Simeon,  490,  499,  520,  526,  557. 

171,  173,  195,  304,  318,  415,  417,  422,  Lugo,  Cathedral  of,  465. 

424,  430,  432,  450,  461,  466,  474,  475,  Lusarches,  Robert  de  (sculptor),  204,  205, 

478,  500,  501,  545,  549;    XH-century,  248. 

57,  116,  131,  133,  135,  174,  175,  176,  Luxeuil  (Haute-Saone),  monastery  of,  122, 

250,  270,  272,  273,  318,  345,  348,  398,  410,  411,  483. 

418,  419,  502,  537,  545;   XIH-century,  Lyenin,  family  of   (vitrine  artists),  233, 

9,  119,  130,  131,  132,  135,  140?  158,  161,  234,  241. 

166,  231,  232,  236,  238,  245,  246,  267,  Lyons,  13,  39,  336,  400;  Cathedral  of,  211, 

334,  396;   XlV-century,  210,  287,  407,  212,   220,   248,  256-268;    Councils  of, 

551;  XV-century,  516,"  517,  529,  565.  263,  267,  268,  456;  glass  and  sculpture 

Loches  (Indre-et-Loire),  44, 254;  Beaulieu-  of,   262,    263,    264,    265;     St.    Martin 

les-Loches,  254.  d'Ainay,  225,  259,  260. 

594 


INDEX 

M  Matha,  St.  Jean  de,  139,  404,  405. 

Matilda,  wife  of  William  the  Conqueror, 

Mabillon,  Dom,  149,  418,  461.  216,  295,  482,  484,  485,  486,  546,  549. 

Macadre  family,  the  (sculptors),  233,  234,  Massillon,  Bishop,  335,  365. 

240.  Maulbronn,  Cistercian  church  of,  464. 

Macon,  Hugues  de  (Bishop  of  Auxerre),  Maurice  and  the  Theban  Legion,  St.,  5, 

431,  447.  248,  303,  304. 

Magdeburg,  Cathedral  of,  2,  3,  77.  Maurille,    Archbishop    (of    Rouen),    482, 

Magna  Charta,  1215,  11,  12,  15,  432.  485,  510,  511. 

Maguelonne  (Herault),  11,  28,  330,  384,  Meaux    (Seine-et-Marne),    Cathedral   of, 

388, 389.  96,  152,  165-168,  247,  538. 

Maine,  Province  of,  269,'271,  274,  302.  Mellifont  Abbey  (Co.  Louth),  3,  464. 

Maine  de  Biran,  579.  Melrose  Abbey  (Roxburghshire),  3,  464. 

Maistre,  Joseph  de,  222,  411.  Mende  (Cantal),  Cathedral  of,  330,  387. 

Malachy,  O'Morgair,  St.,  4,  41,  463,  498.  Merimee,  Prosper,  38,  285,  312,  321,  331, 

Male,  Emile.     See  Bibliography.  341,  343,  370,  373,  383,  395. 

Manchon,    secretary    of    Jeanne    d'Arc's  Merovingian  vestiges  and  times,  20,  56, 

trial,  523,  524,  525,  526.  57,  77,  78,  84,  171,  224,  225,  249,  305, 

Mansurah,  1250,    battle  of,  8,  111,  155,  324,  325,  470,  471,  480. 

156,  159,  453.  Metz  (Lorraine),  226,  242. 

Mantegna,  341.  Mezerai,  Francois  Eudes  de,  298,  519,  520. 

Mantes     (Seine-et-Oise),     Collegiate     of  Mezieres  (Ardennes),  226. 

Notre  Dame  at,  113,  162-165,  488;   its  Michael,  St.,  330,  343,  372,  499,  500,  504, 

Chapel  of  Navarre,  164,  538,  539.  505,  520,  522,  553. 

Marbeau,  Monseigneur  (Bishop  of  Meaux),  Michael  Angelo,  183,  374. 

168.  Midi,  Gothic  in  the,  329,  330,  346,  354, 

Marburg,  Church  of  St.  Elizabeth  at,  112,  377,    380,    386,    398,    402,    407,    408; 

122,  280,  313.  Romanesque  in  the,  25,  329,  330,  337, 

Marcherez,  Madame  Jeanne,  112.  339,  340,  342,  355,  359,  360,  371,  376, 

Marguerite  of  Austria,  264.  381,  398,  403,  406. 

Marguerite  of  Burgundy,  295,  427.  Milan,  3,  28,  29,  338,  384,  464,  465,  466. 

Marguerite  of  Flanders,  454,  455.  Military  orders,  86,   106,   189,  246,  311, 

Marguerite  of  Provence,  96,  153,  154,  390.  326,  466,  504. 

Marie  Antoinette,  70.  Missions  in  the  Middle  Ages,  foreign,  327, 

Marie  of  Champagne,  Countess,  245,  299.  369,  336,  404,  405,  415,  419. 

Maritain,  Jacques,  224.  Mistral,    Frederic,    356,    357,    384,    397, 

Marie,  Thomas  de,  102,  103.  400,  466,  504,  581. 

Marmoutier    (Indre-et-Loire),    251,    387,  Modena,  Cathedral  of,  273,  361,  374,  395. 

400,  402.  Moissac  (Tarn-et-Garonne),    24,    28,    31, 

Marolles  (Oise),  45.  288,  330,  360,  361,  415. 

Marseilles,  28,  400,  401;   St.  Victor's  ab-  Moles,  Arnaud  de,  358,  374. 

batial,  387.  Moliere,  36,  370. 

Martha,  St.,  239,  240,  247,  281,  395,  396,  Moncontour   (Ille-et-Vilaine),   559. 

406,  424.  Monk-builders,  17,  21,  22,  24,  25,  33,  34, 

Martin,  St.,  5,  9,  148,  185,  248,  249,  250,  280,  295,  360,  361,  365,  371,  392,  410, 

253,  304,  315,  316,  321,  324,  446.  411,  412,  413,  415,  416,  417>  422,  437, 

Martin,  Therese,  the  "Little  Flower,"  535,  440,  473,  475,  481,  493,  494,  496,  498, 

536.  502,  554. 

Marville,  Jean  de,  456,  520.  Montaigne,  350,  451. 

Mary  of  Burgundy,  264.  Montaigu,  Gilles  Aycclin  de,  381,  515. 

Mary    Magdalene,    239,    240,    247,    254,  Montalembert,  Charles  de,  237,  256,  280, 

281,  353,  395,  396,  401,  402,  424,  430,  411,  414,  476. 

441,  442.  Moutburd  (Cole-d'Or),  430,  453. 

595 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Montboissier,   Pons  de  (Abbot  of  Veze-  Narthex,  or  forechurch,  18,  57,  419,  424, 

lay),  338,  341,  418,  438,  439;  Peter  de.  427,  436,  437,  457,  460,  532. 

See  Peter  the  Venerable.  Navarre,  167,  232,  237. 

Montecorvino,  John  of,  326,  327.  Navas  de  Toloso,  Las,  115,  153,  385,  538. 

Monteil,  Adhemar  de  (Bishop  of  Le  Puy),  Neale,  Rev.  John  Mason,  19,  214,  414, 

344,  345.  421,  451. 

Montereau,  Pierre  de  (architect),  35,  53,  Nemours,  Pierre  de  (Bishop  of  Noyon), 

66,  70,  141,  146,  149,  150,  280,  299.  80,  139,  243. 

Montfort,  Bertrada  de,  173,  295,  323,  549.  Nevers  (Nievre),  Cathedral  of,  413,  449, 

Montfort,  Simon  de,   14,  353,  357,  362,  566;   St.  Etienne,  215,  254,  340,  495. 

369,  370,  376,  383,  386.  New  Alliance  windows.  See  Glass,  stained. 

Montfort-l'Amaury  (Seine-et-Oise),  144.  Newman,  Cardinal,  123. 

Montier-en-Der  (Haute-Marne),  239.  Nyaise,  St.,  193,  194,  202. 

Montmajour-les-Arles,  398,  399,  400.  Nicolas  of  Bari,  St.,  185,  239,  451. 

Montmorency    (Seine-et-Oise),    144;     art  Nhnes  (Gard),  397,  400. 

patrons,  144,  254,  347,  390,  408,  559.  Nolasco,  St.  Peter,  369,  386. 

Montpellier     (Herault),     369,     385-387;  Nonancourt  (Eure),  536. 

Cathedral  of,  384,  385,  386;    le  Peroii,  Norbert,  St.,  2,  4,  104,  467. 

385,  400,  407.  Normandy,  40,  223,  226,  242,  274,  472- 

Montreal  (Yonne),  121,  428,  429.  556;   Gothic  of,  494,  499,  504,  505,  508, 

Mont-Saint-Michel,  22,  34,  226,  322,  371,  518,    533,    543,    547,    553,    554;     first 

435,  473,  482,  483,  487,  495,  499-507,  Gothic  vaults  of,  30,  46,  478,  479,  493, 

527,  529,  551,  554,  559;   the  Merveille,  554;     sexpartite   vaults   of,    481,   482; 

503.  Romanesque  school  of,  17,  23,  30,  476- 

Mont-Sainte-Odile  (Alsace),  485.  480,  481,  485,  486,  493,  502,  546,  554; 

Montvilliers  (Seine-Inferieure),  491,  555.  architectural  influences  of,   11,  46,  48, 

Morel,  Jacques  (sculptor),  254,  265,  266,  163,  165,  276,  479,  555;  monasteries  of, 

308,  456.  372,  373,  374,  480,  484,  492,  494,  498, 

Morlaix  (Finistere),  559,  560.  499,  554;    Normans  in  Sicily,  132,  542, 

Mortagne,  Gautier  de  (Bishop  of  Laon),  552,  554,  555;   Norse  invasions,  20,  21, 

105.  171,  324,  336,  477,  483,  495,  501,  510. 

Mortain  (Manche),  Abbey  of  La  Blanche,  Norrey  (Calvados),  491. 

473,  554.  Norwich,  Cathedral  of,  430,  487,  496. 

Mdses,  182,  438,  455.  Notre  Dame,  the  term,  565;   devotion  to, 

Mouliherne  (Seine-et-Loire),  315.  5,  126,  137,  138,  169,  170,  193,  343,  344, 

Moulins  (Allier),  226,  265,  266,  322,  541.  404,  465,  511,  564,  571,  572;    iconog- 

Mowbray,   Geoffrey  de  (Bishop  of  Cou-  raphy  of,  85,  101,  123,  137,  138,  180,  182, 

tances),  552.  193,  208,  209,  240,  242,  244,  278,  280, 

Mozac  (Puy-de-D6me),  340,  341,  349.  282,  342,  361,  362,  373,  541. 

Musset,  Alfred  de,  16.  Notre-Dame-de-l'£pine  (Marne),  242,  244. 

Mussy-sur-Seine  (Aube),  239.  Noyes,  Alfred, 

Mystery  plays,  influence  on  sculpture  of,  Noyon  (Oise),  Cathedral  of,  12,  33,  74,  75, 

180,  223,  281,  455,  540,  578.  76,  78-84,  99,  112;  commune  of,  12,  79; 

World  War  havoc  in,  2,  76,  82,  83. 

N 

Nantes   (Loire-Inferieure),    Cathedral  of, 

255,  256,  557,  558,  563,  565-568.  Odito,  St.  (Abbot  of  Cluny),  266,  414,  422. 

Naples,  Gothic  in,  465.  Odo  de  Conteville  (Bishop  of  Bayeux),  337, 

Napoleon,  70,  259,  420,  446.  545,  546,  547,  549,  552. 

Narbonne  (Aude),  368,  378,  408;    Cathe-  Orbais  (Marne). 

dral   of,    11,   203,   330,   336,   357,   364,  Orbais,  Jean  d'  (architect),  34,  190,  191, 

378-382,  390,  515,  539.  192. 

596 


INDEX 

Orcival  (Puy-de-D6me),  340.  294,  327,  404,  408,  428,  434,  463,  469 

Ordericus  Vitalis,  272,  492,  537.  474,  476,  521,  524,  530,  534,  573. 

Orders,    mediaeval    religious,    414,    420;  Paris,  Gaston,  135,  152,  242,  245,  565. 

Trinitarians,   or  Mathurins,   404,   405;  Parthenay  (Deux-Sevres),  321,  340. 

Order  of  Mercy,  369,  386.     See  Carthu-  Pascal,  331,  332. 

sians,  Cistercians,  Cluny,  Dominicans,  Paschal  II,  Pope,  173,  250,  259,  261,  266, 

Franciscans,  Fontevrault,  Premontre.  291,  295,  415,  417,  428,  458. 

Orgeval  (Seine-et-Oise),  45.  Pasquier,  Etienne,  521. 

Oriflamme  of  St.  Denis,  the,  61,  70,  71.  Passavent,  Guillaume  de  (Bishop  of  Le 

Orleans   (Loiret),  2,  328,  504,  521,  526,  Mans),  269,  272,  273,  274,  275. 

527,  529,  533;    Cathedral  of,  2,  7,  218,  Pasteur,  Louis,  428. 

224,  254;  family  of,  499.  Pater,  Walter,  170,  432,  578. 

Orleans,  Charles  d',  67,  315,  497,  516,  517,  Patrick,  St.,  446,  536,  537. 

529,  534,  565.  Paul,  St.,  9,  95,  208,  217,  273,  387,  389, 

Orleans,  Louis,  Duke  d',  67,  143,  497,  534.  399,  442,  466,  567. 

O'Toole,  St.  Laurence,  498,  499.  Paul,  St.  Vincent  de,  151,  259,  402,  508. 

Ourscamp  (Oise),  hospital  and  abbey  of,  Pavia  (Lombardy),  437. 

80,  96,  150,  431.  Peguy,  Charles,  72,  73,  168,  179,  197,  536, 

Oxford,  327,  407,  434,  516,  519.  545. 

Ozanam,  Frederic,  135,  259,  268,  508.  Peking,  327. 

Penafort,  St.  Raymond  of,  369. 

P  Penmarc'h  (Finistere),  560,  561. 

Palermo,  549,  555.  Pepin,  57. 

Papacy  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the,  22,  23,  Perigieux    (Dordogne),    Cathedral   of   St. 

79,  91,  95,  135,  154,  171,  177,  194,  206,  Front,  47,  288-290.  291,  465. 

239,  240,  243,  266,  267,  268,  291,  337,  Peronne  (Somme),  82,  124,  226,  411. 

338,  364,  367,  369,  370,  385,  386,  387,  Perpignan  (Pyrenees  Orientales),  382. 

388,  392,  393,  407,  408,  409,  411,  412,  Perreal,  Jean,  264,  568. 

416,  419,  466,  468,  489,  501,  578.  Peter,  St.,  9,  103,  148,  182,  186,  208,  218, 

Paray-le-Monial  (Allier),  410,  421,  422.  273,  317,  387,  388,  389,  399,  416,  438, 

Paris,  7,  82,  126,  133,  317,  419,  445,  513,  482,  565,  567. 

527,  530;   Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  3,  Peter  of  Aragon,  385. 

6,  7,  13,  33,  41,  59,  74,  85,  99,  100,  112,  Peter  the  Venerable,  41,  60,  152,  174,  243, 

126-146,  163,  167,  181,  182,  204,  213,  341,  393,  414,  417,  418,  419,  435,  438, 

215,  228,  229,  290,  413,  416,  434,  489,  463,  467. 

554,  575;  Flamboyant  Gothic  churches  Peterborough,  Cathedral  of,  482,  487,  562. 

in,  144;    glass,  school  of,  59,  143,  145,  Petrarch,  239,  386,  406,  408. 

146,  252,  334;  Hotel  Cluny,  53,  97,  222,  Philibert,  St.,  413,  483. 

335,  373,  421;   Hotel  Sens,  97;    Louvre,  Philippe  I,  king  of  France,  51,  173,  295, 

the,  425,  426;    Montmartre,  church  of  323,  549. 

St.  Pierre  de,  56,  148,  151,  and  Sacre-  Philippe-Auguste,  12,  14,  53,  54,  60,  62, 

Cceur    basilica    of,    151,    292;     Sainte-  69,  70,  80,  94,  96,  108,  135,  136,  162, 

Chapelle,  the,  132,  145,  146,  203,  205,  163,  177,  194,  195,  234,  251,  267,  274, 

229,   252,   334,  538;    St.  Germain-des-  275,  280,  309,  310,  340,  432,  440,  489, 

Pres,  33,  34,  148,  149,  415;  St.  Germain  503,  511,  513,  525,  537,  538. 

1'Auxerrois,    152,    446;     St.    Julien-le-  Philippe  III,  the  Bold,  67,  71,  247,  338, 

Pauvre,     147,     431;      St.     Martin-des-  375,  390,  408. 

Champs,  33,  45,  148,  150;   St.  Severin,  Philippe  IV,  le  Bel,  13,  326,  489,  538. 

152,  541;  St.  Victor,  Abbey  of,  133,  134,  Philippe  le  Hardi,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  220, 

135,  468;    sculpture  of,  131,  132,  137,  232,  264,  353,  443,  452,  454;  tomb  of, 

138,    139,    141,    142,    146,    147,    149;  455. 

Trocadero  Museum,  38,  244,  340,  353;  Philippe  le  Bon,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  426. 

University  of,  7,  41,  104,  133,  134,  147,  427,  452,  527. 

597 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 

Picardy,  202,  203,  210,  503.  Portals,  sculptured,  4,  95,  180,  181,  182, 

Pierrefonds  (Oise),  534.  239,  252,  253,  261,  273,  289,  394,  398, 

Piers,  development  of,  23,  24,  25,  26,  49,  418,  428,  438,  514,  515,  517,  518,  550, 

55,  93,  100,  111,  122,  127,  166,  213,  214,  561. 

320,  333,  346,  358,  377,  380,  402,  514,  Porter,    Arthur    Kingsley.     See    Bibliog- 
532.  raphy. 

Pilasters,  channeled,  416,  422,  424.  Portugal,  38,  454. 

Pilgrim  shrines,  mediaeval,  6,  94,  157,  179,  Pot,  Philippe  (Seneschal   of   Burgundy), 

185,  249,  250,  289,  324,  325,  343,  395,  144,  425. 

436,  437,  498,  500,  551.  Pothimus,   St.   (Bishop   of   Lyons),   257, 

Pilon,  Germain  (sculptor),  68,  278.  258,  259. 

Pinaigrier  (vitrine  artist),  149,  254.  Prague,  3,  203,  387. 

Pisa,  417,  460.  Premontre,  Order  of,  34,   104,  122,  468, 

Pisano,  Niccola,  29.  543. 

Pius  IX,  Pope,  377.  Primary  Gothic,  68  7,4-12$,  75,  76,  77, 

Pius  X,  Pope,  188.  108,  109,  110,  113,  114,  125,  303,  306, 

Plantagenet  Gothic,  10,  39,  113,  250,  273,  440,  494,  508,  511,  580. 

275,  278,  291-301,  307,  311,  312,  314,  Primitifs,  French,  265,  404. 

315,  317,  351.  Prophets  and  patriarchs,  in  art,  182,  262, 

Plantagenet  tombs,  the,  293,  296,  297.  373,  404,  455. 

Plato,  132,  169,  475.  Provence,   112,  113,  114,  153,  309,  361, 

Plelan  (Ille-et-Vilaine),  541.  390,  397,  400,  402,  441,  465;    Roman- 

Pleyben  (Finistere),  561.  esque  school  of,  23,  24,  398,  403,  405, 

Ploermel  (Morbihan),  559.  406;    sculpture  of,  361,  392,  394,  395, 

Plougastel-Daoulas  (Finistere),  561.  398;  tradition  of  the  Saintes  Maries  in, 

Plougonven  (Finistere),  561.  436,  441. 

Poblet    (Catalonia),   Monastery   of,   380,  Pro vins  (Seine-et-Marne),  7, 119-121,  538; 

381,  464.  St.  Quiriace,  123. 

Poissy  (Seine-et-Oise),  45,  53,  54,  574.  Psichari,  Ernest,  168,  572,  574. 

Poitiers,  40,  221,  255,  286,  318,  324,  325,  Puvis  de  Chavannes,  216,  259. 

327,  328,  454;  Cathedral  of,  10,  57,  279,  Puy-Notre-Dame    (Maine-et-Loire),    314, 

312, 316-322;  Baptistry  of  St.  Jean,  225;  319. 

Counts   of,    298,    318:     see   Guillaume  Q 

VIII,  IX,  and  X;   glass  of,  10,  59,  317,  y 

321,  322;    Minerva  statue,  325;    Mon-  Quimper   (Finistere),   Cathedral  of,   541, 
tierneuf,  318;    Notre  Dame-la-Grande,  557,  559,  563,  568-571. 

24,  318,  323;  Palais  de  Justice  (Counts'  Quimperle  (Finistere),  31,  557,  560. 

palace),  326,  327,  328;   St.  Hilaire,  172, 

319,323,324,344;  Ste.  Radegonde,  325,  R 

326,  327,  539;   University  of,  325. 

Poitiers,  Alphonse  de,  156,  313,  320,  362,  Races  in  France,  amalgamation  of,  4,  5,  21, 

370,  408.  135,  248,  378,  388.     See  Barbarian  in- 

Poitiers,  Diane  de,  144,  172,  515.  vasions,  Celtic  element,  Gallo-Romans, 

Poitou,  5,  10,  39;   Romanesque  school  of,  and  Latin  influences. 

24,  38,  291,  311,  316,  319,  320,  321,  323,  Racine,  36,  242. 

355.  Radegund,  Queen,  4,  10,  78,  84,  324,  325, 

Polo,  Marco,  299,  32?.  327. 

Polychrome  decoration,  339,  340,  343.  Rationale,  or  the  symbolism  of  churches, 

Pont-Audemer  (Eure),  541.  19,  69,  214,  267,  359,  377,  387,  400,  401. 

Pont-de-1'Arche  (Eure),  536,  539.  Raymond  IV,  of  Toulouse,  391. 

Pontigny  (Yonne),  Cistercian  abbatial  of,  Raymond  VI,  of  Toulouse,  297,  357,  369, 

11,  33,  93,  215,  239,  261,  430-435,  447.  376,  392,  394. 

Pontoise  (Seine-et-Oise),  45,  53,  54,  57,  65.  Raymond  VII,  297,  370. 

598 


INDEX 


Rayonnant  Gothic,  12,  13,  105,  116,  130,  Rodez  (Aveyron),  Cathedral  of,  203,  226, 

141,  232,  236,  237,  277,  346,  352,  353,  330,  370,  374,  577. 

354,  380,  497,  508,  509,  514,  515,  516,  Rodin,  Auguste,  114,  172,  189,  196,  215, 

538,  543,  548,  573,  577.  250,  272,  278,  390,  472,  575. 

Rebirth    of    architecture   after   the   year  Roland,  Chanson  de,  106,   184,  194,  246, 

1000,  20,  22,  422,  458,  575.  355,  356,  500,  501,  545,  549,  580. 


Reclus,  O.,  498. 

Redon  (Ille-et-Vilaine),  256,  268. 

Regnault,  Guillaume  (sculptor),  67,  256, 
568. 

Remigius,  St.,  118,  191,  194.  See  Rheims, 
Church  of  St.  Remi. 

Renaissance,  the  classic,  10,  152,  179,  180, 
228,  239,  240,  243,  246,  279,  281,  282, 
295,  306,  374,  375,  406,  483,  489,  497, 
513,  515,  541,  560,  564,  566,  567,  568, 
577. 


Rolin,  Nicolas,  425,  426,  427. 

Rollo,  Duke  of  Normandy,  477,  482,  503, 
510. 

Roman  centers  in  Gaul,  9,  91,  379,  398, 
424. 

Romanesque  architecture,  16,  17,  18,  19, 
21,  22,  23,  24,  25,  43,  44,  48,  49,  187,  225, 
287,  291,  320,  321,  323,  329,  340,  344, 
359,  361,  362,  378,  403,  406,  422,  427, 
433,  476-486,  493,  546,  557,  575;  Ro- 
manesque sculpture,  51,  288,  291,  292, 
361,  480,  546,  547;  Romanesque  traits  in 
Gothic  art,  55,  75,  80,  81,  82,  92,  95, 
99,  100,  116,  117,  120,  127,  149,  150, 
180,  181,  223,  242,  261,  378,  394,  419, 
429,  434,  437,  488,  513,  532,  547,  553, 
575. 


Renan,  Ernest,  27,  258,  462,  572,  574. 
Rene,  King,  of  Anjou,  221,  222,  277,  279, 

305,  308,  309,  314,  402,  404,  540. 
Revolution,  devastation  by  the  French,  2, 
34,  69,  81,  122,  139,  144,  149,  153,  155, 
209,  221,  239,  240,  241,  243,  249,  265, 
266,  279,  308,  336,  347,  348,  358,  363,  Rome,  11,  18,  19,  81,  119,  204,  230,  250, 
374,  393,  420,  421,  423,  455,  457,  461,  257,  320,  327,  329,  343,  372,  375,  385, 
497,  515,  519,  548,  554,  556,  573,  577.  387,  388,  397,  398,  405,  406,  407,  409, 

Rheims  (Marne),  2,  6,  10,  32,  40,  61,  77,        416,  424,  434,  464,  472,  479,  564. 

153,  197-201,  425,  527,  538;   Cathedral    Roncevaux,  778;    battle  of,  8,  194,  355, 
of,  34,  122,  188-201,  209,  211,  242,  244,        500,  545,  580. 

284,  475,  581 ;  its  sculpture,  6,  192,  193,    Roquefort,  Pierre  de  (Bishop  of  Carcas- 
195,  196,  204,  208;    St.  Remi,  7,  33,  74,        sonne),  377. 

76,   77,   105,    109,   116-119,    121,    196,    Ros,  Guillaume  de  (Abbot  of  Fecamp), 
242,  322,  415,  575;  World  War  devasta-        496,  497. 
tion  by,  2,  76,  196,  197-202,  581.  Roscoff  (Finistere),  560. 

Rhenish  school,  the,  24,  27,  28,  164,  177,    Rosnay  (Aube),  239. 

449.  Rostand,  Edmond,  391,  559. 

Rouen,  10,  13,  33,  507-530,  535,  538,  554, 
558;  Cathedral  of,  104,  113,  129,  322, 
373,  475,  494,  499,  507-520,  523,  524, 
531,  541,  555,  577;  Abbatial  of  St. 
Ouen,  415,  472,  475,  487,  491,  507,  509, 
516,  520,  522,  524,  530,  534,  541; 
Flamboyant  towers,  509,  517,  518; 
Hotel  du  Bourgtherould,  519;  Palais  de 
Justice,  222,  518;  St.  Gervais,  510;  St. 
Julien,  Petit-Quevilly,  511,  512;  St. 


Rhuis  (Oise),  45. 

Richard  I,  the  Fearless,  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy, 495,  501. 

Richard  II,  the  Good,  Duke  of  Normandy, 
485,  492,  495,  501,  502,  510. 

Richard  Cceur-de-Lion,  10,  14,  177,  245, 
251,  267,  269,  274,  279,  293,  296,  297, 
298,  299,  304,  319,  340,  348,  351,  440, 
491,  511,  513,  514,  537,  538. 

Richelieu,  282,  289. 

Riom  (Puy-de-D6me),  340,  341,  342,  387, 
541;  Virgin  of  the  Bird,  the,  342,  490, 
577. 


Maclou,  404,  492,  515,  517,  541;  St. 
Vincent,  517;  sons  of,  519;  trial  of 
Jeanne  d'Arc  in,  521-530. 


Robert  the   Magnificent,   Duke  of   Nor-    Rouilly  (Aube),  239. 

mandy,  544,  545,  554.  Roullet  (Charente),  291. 

Roc-amadour  (Lot),  289.  Rousse,  Joseph,  563. 

Rochester,  Cathedral  of,  482,  485.  Royal  (Puy-de-D6me),  332. 

599 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 


Rubruquis,  William  of,  327. 

Rue  (Somme),  £22. 

Ruffec  (Charente),  291. 

Ruskin,  John,  1,  3,  15,  208,  209,  556. 


Sable  (Sarthe),  280,  282. 

St.  Albans  (Hertfordshire),  Abbey  of,  487. 

St.  Andre-les-Troyes  (Aube),  238. 

St.  Astier  (Dordogne),  288,  289. 

St.  Bartholomew  Massacre,  1572,  the,  425, 
566. 

St.  Benott-sur-Loire  (Loiret),  254,  566. 

St.  Bertrand  -de  -  Comminges  (Haute- 
Garonne),  354,  406. 

St.  Brieuc  (C6tes-du-Nord),  557,  572. 

St.  Catherine  de  Fierbois  (Indre-et-Loire), 
254. 

St.  Cher,  Cardinal  Hugues  de,  134. 

St.  Denis-en-France,  Abbey  of,  21,  31, 
33,  44,  45,  51,  52,  54-72,  125,  132,  146, 
147,  175,  336,  339,  415,  482,  486,  565, 
581 ;  built  by  Abbot  Suger,  56,  57,  58, 
59,  64;  rebuilt  by  St.  Louis,  65,  66; 
dedicated,  60,  319;  its  deviated  axis, 
68;  glass  of,  55,  58,  59,  60,  64,  66,  183, 
184,  279;  influence  of,  65,  66,  74,  173, 
175,  307,  321;  tombs  of,  66,  67,  68,  153; 
notable  gatherings  in,  56,  57,  60,  70. 

Ste.  Baume  (Var),  396. 

Sainte-Beuve,  Ch.  A.,  158,  451,  453. 

Saintes  (Charente-Inf erieure) ,  226, 287, 340. 

Saintes-Chapelles,  various,  52,  66,  145, 
146,  153,  205,  206,  221,  341. 

St.  Evroult  (Orne),  473,  537,  542. 

St.  Fiacre-du-Faouet  (Morbihan),  560. 

St.  Florent-les-Saumur  (Maine-et-Loire), 
314,  315,  566. 

St.  Florentin  (Yonne),  239. 

St.  Flour  (Cantal),  408,  487. 

St.  Gall,  Switzerland,  Abbey  of,  411. 

St.  Georges  de  Boscherville  (Seine-In- 
ferieure),  473,  492^94,  532. 

St.  Germain-en-Laye  (Seine-et-Oise),  53, 
66,  235. 

St.  Germain-sur-Vienne,  314. 

St.  Germer-en-Flay  (Oise),  45,  51,  52,  53, 
66. 

St.  Gildas-de-Rhuis  (Morbihan),  557. 

St.  Gilles  (Card),  11,  24,  31,  323,  330,  388, 
390,  391-3%. 

St.  Guilhem-le-Desert  (Herault),  318,  384. 


St.  Jean-du-Doigt  (Finistere),  558. 

St.   Jouin-de-Marne   (Deux-Sevres),    224, 

321. 

St.  Julien-du-Sault  (Yonne),  98. 
St.  Leger-les-Troyes  (Aube),  239. 
St.  Leu  d'Esserent  (Oise),  45,  46,  74,  76, 

113,  121,  123-125. 
St.  L6  (Manche),  518,  541,  554. 
St.  Loup  (Aube),  239. 
St.  Loup-de-Naud  (Seine-et-Marne),  120. 
St.  Maixent  (Deux-Sevres),  225,  321,  415. 
St.  Malo  (llle-et-Vilaine),  4,  562,  563. 
St.  Maur,  Congregation  of,  37,  41,  418, 

483,  507,  548. 

St.  Maximin  (Var),  280,  309,  330, 400, 402. 
St.  Mihiel  (Meuse),  281. 
St.  Nectaire  (Puy-de-D6me),  340. 
St.  Nicolas-du-Port  (Meurthe-et-Moselle), 

226,  358. 

St.  Parre-les-Tertres  (Aube),  238. 
St.  Pere-sous-Vezelay  (Yonne),  436. 
St.  Pierre-sur-Dives  (Calvados),  33,  473, 

491. 
St.  Pol-de-Leon  (Finistere),  Cathedral  of, 

557,  563,  568,  570-572;    the  Kreisker 

Tower,  12,  557,  562. 
St.  Ponanges  (Aube),  239. 
St.  Quentin  (Aisne),  2,  115,  224,  226,  242, 

282-284. 

St.  Riquier  (Somme),  226,  411. 
St.  Satur  (Cher),  254,  566. 
St.  Saturnin  (Puy-de-D6me),  340. 
St.  Savin-sur-Gartemps,  320,  321,  415. 
St.  Thegonnec  (Finistere),  561. 
St.  Vaast-les-Mello  (Oise),  45. 
St.    Victor's    Abbey,    Paris,     133,     135; 

Adam   de   St.  Victor,    133,    134,    468; 

Hugues  de  St.  Victor,  133,  468;  Richard 

de  St.  Victor,  133,  135,  468;  St.  Victor's 

Abbey  at  Marseilles,  387,  468. 
St.  Wandrille  (Seine-Inf erieure),  Abbatial 

ruins  of,  373,  411,  415,  472,  473,  483. 
Salamanca,  327,  465. 
Salazar,  Tristan  de  (Archbishop  of  Sens), 

97. 

Sales,  St.  Francois  de,  151,  259,  508. 
Salisbury,  Cathedral  of,  434,  516,  532. 
Salisbury,  John  of  (Bishop  of  Chartres), 

4,  41,  94,  116,  120,  134,  136,  170,  175, 

176,  183r  433,  532. 

San  Galgano  (province  of  Siena),  465. 
Sanglier,  Henri  le-  (Archbishop  of  Sens), 

92,  132,  467. 


600 


INDEX 

Santa-Creus  (Catalonia),  464,  465.  of,  97,  98,  100;  noted  archbishops  of,  92, 

Santayana,  George,  169,  170.  93,  94,  95,  96;    St.  Louis  in,  96;    St. 

Santiago  Compostela,  185,  222,  250,  319,  Thomas  Becket  in,  91,  93,  95. 

340,  360,  361,  371.  Sens,  Guillaume  de  (architect),  30,  93  94 

Saracens,  6,  124,  158,  159,  160,  184,  323,  532. 

326,  336,  338,  355.  388,  389,  390,  395,  Sevigne,  Madame  de,  398  453 

402,  404,  405.  Seville,  185,  299. 

Sarcey,  Madame  Yvonne,  102.  Shakespeare,  4,  5,  159,  162. 

Saulieu  (Cote-d'Or),  410,  423,  429.  Sibyls  in  French  art,  the,  98,  224,  228,  238, 

Saumur  (Marne-et-Loire),  286,  295,  312-  239,  243,  258,  404,  448,  449. 

316-  Sicily,    309,    464,    465,    479,    554,    555; 

Scandinavia,  Gothic  in,  324,  412,  464,  465,  Sicilian  Vespers,  1280,  the,  156,  299,  427. 

477,  479,  480.  Sidonius  Apollinaris,  261,  331,  379. 

Schism  of  the  West,  Great,  222,  409,  455,  Siena,  Cathedral  of,  29,  406,  465. 

540;  the  Greek  Schism,  14,  268,  456.  Siguenza,  Cathedral  of,  465. 

Scholastics,  mediaeval,  8,  39,  95,  96,  104,  Sixteenth-century     religious     wars,     de- 

130,  132,  133,  136,  138,  139,  175,  209,  struction  by,  2,  34,  69,  107,  108,  167, 

224,  299,  334,  446,  473,  474,  475,  476,  218,  249,  254,  266,  279,  290,  292,  308, 

575.  314,  319,  324,  393,  406,  408,  420,  425, 

Schools,  mediaeval,  7,  61,   104,  133,  134,  437,  446,  451,  488,  509,  520,  546,  552, 

170,  171,  172,  299,  415,  446,  474,  487,  554,  556,  577. 

496.  Smith,  Marion  Couthouy,  506. 

Sculpture,  6,  8,  11,  35,  37,  39,  126,  167,  Soissons  (Aisne),  77,  103,  107,  108,  112, 

454,   560;    Xl-century,   361,   418,  423,  424;   Cathedral  of,  6,  12,  33,  74,  75,  77, 

437,  438;   XH-century,  65,  85,  120,134,  78, 106-114, 122, 185,  215,  302,  547,  569, 

138,  180,  181,  273,  306,  330,  339,  340,  581;     St.    Jean-des-Vignes,    106,    108; 

394,   422;    XHI-century,   66,   69,    101,  St.  Leger,  106, 122;  World  War,  destruc- 

122,  137,  141,  142,  167,  192,  195,  196,  tion  by,  107,  108,  112. 

205,  208,  209,  217,  239,  252,  273,  278,  Solesmes  (Sarthe),  255,  278-282,  308,  490, 

444;    XlV-century,  166,  167,  252,  253,  494,  577;  Saints  of,  255,  280,  281,  282. 

259,  263,  373,  377,  387,  436,  447,  514;  Solignac  (Haute  Vienne),  291. 

XV-century,  67,  167,  181,  209,  247,  263,  Solomon's  Judgment,  447,  515. 

281,    282,    327,    406,    429,    454,    566;  Sorbon,  Robert  de,  8,  133,  134. 

XVI-century,  10,  67,  180,  210,  218,  233,  Sorel,  Agnes,  254,  255,  483. 

255,  256,  265,  278,  280,  281,  322,  327,  Soufflot  (architect),  423,  460. 

342,   373,   404,   490,  515,  577;    XVII-  Souillac  (Lot),  291. 

century,  210,  518,  560,  561,  567,  568.  Souvestre,  Emile,  560. 

Seche,  Leon,  556.  Souvigny  (Allier),  Abbatial  and  tombs  of, 

Secqueville  (Calvados),  491.  265,  266,  456. 

Seez  (Orne),  Cathedral  of,  166,  539,  542-  Spain,    3,    416,    420,   465,   563;     French 

544.  architectural  influences  in,  23,  38,  115, 

Seignelay,  Guillaume  de  (Bishop  of  Paris),  185,  337,  361,  380,  385,  416,  419,  465. 

32,  139,  446,  447.  Spandrels,    ensculptured,   444,    448,   449, 

Semur-en-Auxois   (Cote-d'Or),   413,   443,  547,555. 

444.  Stephen,  St.,  95,  96,   141,   167,  224,  346, 

Senlis  (Oise),  14,  33,  40,  74,  77,  84-90,  99,  347,  357,  396,  445,  449. 

425;  Cathedral  of,  74,  75,  76,  78,  84,  85,  Suger,  Abbot,  5,  6,  14,  31,  34,  40,  43,  44, 45, 

86,  88,  89,  90,  99,  112,  124,  490,  568;  its  52,  55-65,  66,  68,  69,  79,  84,  103,  143, 

tower,  76;   St.  Frambourg,  88;   Abbaye  144,  175,  181,  189,  2!)5,  298,  306,  319. 

de  la  Victoire;  World  War  devastations,  321,  339,  371,  417,  418,  467,  579. 

89,  90.  Sully,  Eudes  de   (Bishop  of  Paris),   137, 

Sens'(Yonne),  91,  99,  433,  532;  Cathedral  138,  139,  215,  232,  299;   Henri  de,  139, 

of,  74,  75,  91,  92,  93,  94,  112,  153;  glass  215,  299. 

601 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 


Sully,  Maurice  de  (Bishop  of  Paris),  33,    Tournus   (Sa6ne-et-Loire),  24,   164,   287, 
41,  94,  133,  136,  138,  181,  229,  405.  410,  414,  415,  457,  458,  483. 

Tours  (Indre-et-Loire),  173,  347,  454,  566, 
568;    Cathedral  of,  8,  9,  125,  203,  205, 
211,  212,  220,  226,  270,  315,  316,  322, 
324;    St.  Julien,  250;    St.  Martin,  10, 
248,  249,  250,  304;  St.  Symphorien,  250; 
sculptor,     Region-of-the-Loire     school, 
254,  278,  281,  361,  564,  567,  568. 
Tours,  Gregory  of,  249,  250,  331,  336. 
Toustain,  Thomas  (architect),  276,  553. 
Towers  of  France,  noted,  11,  78,  87,  89, 
101,  140,  141,  174,  177,  179,  187,  188, 
271,  276,  354,  436,  481,  484,  488,  489, 
511,  517, 533,  553, 557, 572;  Flamboyant 
towers,  217,  230,  287,  374,  492,  509,  517, 
518;  Romanesque  towers,  49,  113,  446, 
491,  557. 
Templars,  Order  of,  12,  62,  99,  106,  246,    Transept,  19,  54,  69,  108,  129,  136,  213, 

261,  326,  379,  466,  557.  215,  226,  283,  360,  532,  541,  556. 

Temple,  Raymond  du  (architect),  164,  232.    Transition  from  Romanesque  to  Gothic, 
Tennyson,  Alfred,  433.  16,  26,  33,  43,  44,  45,  46,  48,  50,  52,  57, 


Summa,  the,  130,  131,  132,  334. 

Symbolism  in  mediaeval  art,  9,  12,  19,  36, 
56,  64,  68,  69,  105,  136,  139,  195,  207, 
214,  219,  253,  262,  289,  324,  371,  396, 
400,  401,  404,  424,  438,  450,  514,  578. 
579. 


Taine,  H.,  53,  108,  420. 

Taj,  the  (Agra),  442. 

Tancreds,  the,  10,  106,  323,  554,  555. 

Tapestry,  mediaeval,   118,   196,  309,  313, 

314,  335,  427,  519,  548,  549. 
Taragona  (Catalonia),  381. 
Tarantaise,  Pierre  de  (Innocent  IV),  268. 
Tarascon  (Bouches-du-Rhone),  239,  3%. 


Tenth  century,  horrors  of  the,  20,  21,  411. 
Thibaut  IV,  le  chansonnier,  119,  157,  231, 

236,  246,  247,  299,  313,  432,  538. 
Thibaut  V,  Count  of  Champagne,  119, 120, 

159. 

Thierry,  A.,  23,  435,  472,  480. 
Thomas,  St.,  8,  9,  220,  441. 
Thompson,  Francis,  197. 
Tillieres  (Eure),  536,  541. 


58,  75,  99,  120,  124,  262,  412,  413,  419, 

432,  437,  554,  575. 
Treguier   (C6tes-du-Nord),  Cathedral  of, 

557,  559,  563,  572-575. 
Trent,  Council  of,  130,  466,  578. 
Trevc-de-Dieu,  21,  411,  422. 
Tribune  galleries,  18,  52,  82,  92,  99,  116, 

125,  128,  163,  164,  166,  482,  486,  493, 

532,  552,  564. 


Tintern  Abbey  (Monmouthshire),  3,  464.  Triforium,  65,  66,  82,  99,  116,  125,  234, 

Toledo,  3,  264,  337.  251,  276,  353,  380,  430,  431,  437,  444, 

Tombs,  mediaeval,  11,  66,  67,  69,  244,  254,  486,  547,  552,  553. 

256,  266,  308,  405,  406,  407,  408,  425,  Troubadours  and  trouveres,  245,  298,  345, 

455,  456,  504,  515,  519,  564,  567,  568.  348,  357,  545. 

Tonnerre  (Yonne),  Hospital  of,  295,  427,  Troyes     (Aube),     419,    424,     519,     538; 


429. 


Cathedral  of,  98,  125,  203,  211,  213, 
226,  230-235,  281;  glass  of,  98,  115; 
Treaty  of,  233;  St.  Jean,  240;  St. 
Madeleine,  239,  240,  244,  247;  St. 
Martin-es-Vignes,  241;  St.  Nicolas,  241; 
St.  Nizier,  235;  St.  Urbain,  236-238; 
churches  in  the  environs,  238,  239,  539. 


Torigny,    Robert    de    (Abbot   of   Mont- 
Saint-Michel),  499,  502,  532. 
Toucy,  Hugues  de  (Archbishop  of  Sens), 

92,  93,  94,  96. 

Toul  (Meurthe-et-Moselle),  226,  242. 
Toulouse  (Haute-Garonne),  330,  356,  357, 

359,  368,  387,  391,  407,  466,  539;   Ca-   Troyes,  Crestien  de,  245. 

thedral  of,  330,  356,  357,  358;  Jacobins   Tunis,  71,  157,  162. 

Church,  11,  358,  359,  372;  museum  of,    Turpin,  Archbishop  (of  Rheims),  194,  355. 

256,  259,  360;    St.  Sernin,  24,  250,  330,    Tympanums,  85,  137,  141,  288,  345,  361, 

336,  338,  340,  356,  359,  360,  361,  415.  423,  438,  444. 

Tour,  Guy  de  la,  267,  333,  334,  336. 
Touraine,    40,   212,    248,  250,  254,  256, 

274,  567.  Urbain  II,  Pope,  22,  29,  118,   194,  266, 

Tournai  (Belgium),  81,  89,  242,  305.  270,    294,    305,    337,   338,    344,    348, 

602 


U 


INDEX 


352,  360,  375,  376,  388,  393,  415,  416,  Viterbo,  110,  465. 

417.  Vitry  (Ille-et-Vilaine),  559. 

Urbain  IV,  Pope,  232,  236,  238.  Volpiano,  William  of,  4,  34,  266,  414,  422, 

Urbain  V,  Pope,  259,  384,  386,  387,  408,  452,457,458,473,478,482,495,502,554. 

409,  415,  446.  Voltaire,  36,  150,  338,  453,  530,  536. 

v  Voragine,  Jacobus  de,  9,  85,  97,  220,  400. 


Vallery-Radot,  Robert,  428. 
Valmont  (Seine-Inferieure),  ruins  of,  518. 
Valois  princes,  309,  353,  452,  453,  454. 
See  Charles  V,   Jean  de  Berry,   Louis 
d'Anjou,  Philippa-le-Hardi  of  Burgundy. 
Van  Eyck,  222,  404,  426. 
Vauban  (engineer),  423,  460,  552. 
Vaughan,  Cardinal,  426. 
Vault,  masonry,  19,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  38, 
43,  44,  48,  55,  58,  95,  100,  372,  413,  424, 
440,  457,  575;    bombe  vaults,  84,   95, 
124,  269,  285,  286,  300,  301,  303,  309, 
310,  311,  314,  316,  320,  351,  357,  381, 
432;    broken-rib  vault,  58,   92;    octo- 
partite  vault,  120;  sexpartite  vault,  81, 
100,  127,  398,  481,  482,  486. 

Vauvenargues,  403. 

Vendome  (Loir-et-Cher),  church  of  the 
Trinite,  59,  112,  113,  271,  272,  304,  305, 
315,  511. 

Vendome,  Geoffrey  of  (Abbot  of  the 
Trinite),  271,  272,  337,  415. 

Venice,  96,  289. 

Verdun  (Meuse),  129,  281,  526. 

Verlaine,  Paul,  74. 

Verneuil  (Eure),  536. 

Verona,  246,  338,  361,  437. 

Verrieres  (Aube),  239. 

Vezelay  (Yonne),  Abbey  of  the  Madeleine, 
10,  24,  31,  33,  121,  180,  288,  298,  319, 
323,  371,  395,  401,  410,  415,  418,  419, 
424,  429,  435-442,  450;  its  portico,  428, 
439;  meeting  place  of  crusades,  439,  440. 

Vienne  (Isere),  Cathedral  of,  256,  258,  261, 
417. 

Viffart  (Aisne),  45. 

Vignory  (Haute-Marne),  241. 

Villehardouin,  161,  231,  246. 

Villeneuve  1'Archeveque  (Yonne),  239. 

Villeneuve-les- Avignon  (Card),  405,  408. 

Villetertre  (Oise),  45. 

Villon,  Franc.ois,  222,  565. 

Vincennes  (Seine),  144. 

Viollet-le-Duc,  E.     See  Bibliography. 


W 

Wace,  Robert,  545,  549. 

Wells,  Cathedral  of,  516. 

Westminster  Abbey,  3,  154,  232,  293,  297, 
299,  552. 

Weyden,  Roger  van  der,  426,  427. 

William  the  Conqueror,  5,  10,  22,  51,  53, 
101,  137,  164,  165,  274,  304,  482,  484, 
485,  486,  487,  488,  494,  496,  502,  510, 
511,  544,  545,  546,  549,  550,  552,  554, 
580,  581. 

William  Longsword,  Duke  of  Normandy, 
482,  495,  510. 

William  Rufus,  271,  475. 

Winchester,  Cathedral  of,  481,  482,  487. 

Women  in  the  Middle  Ages,  13,  54,  72, 
86,  96,  121,  122,  135,  138, 153,  154,  159, 
166,  173,  174,  193,  209,  226,  232,  234, 
238,  245,  253,  264,  279,  281,  293,  294, 
295,  297,  298,  299,  309,  315,  319,  324, 
341,  344,  353,  385,  395,  396,  419,  427, 
434,  440,  458,  463,  483,  484,  485,  490, 
501, 508, 527-531, 536, 544, 549, 558, 567. 

Worcester,  Cathedral  of,  487. 

Wordsworth,  54,  65. 

World  War,  devastation  by  the,  76,  77, 
82,  123, 144,  145,  168, 196,  197-201,  283, 
329,  375,  384,  .391,  405,  520,  526,  535, 
559,  580,  581.  ' 


Yolande   of   Aragon,    Countess   d'Anjou, 

191,  221,  277,  280,  309,  328. 
York,  Cathedral  of,  59,  242. 
Ypres,  2,  110,202. 
Yves  of  Brittany,  St.,  386,  572,  573,  574. 


Zamora,  Cathedral  of,  465 
Zola,  Emile,  249,  362. 
Zozimus,  Pope,  399. 


A  Begule,  Lucien,  39,  256,  261,  428,  461,  565. 

Beissier,  F.,  397. 

Abadie,  Paul,  151,  290,  292,  355.  Belloc,  Hilaire,  375,  548. 

Abgrall,  Abbe,  40,  556,  565,  568,  570.  Benard,  Pierre,  282. 

Adams,  Henry,  165,  170,  231,  299,  477,    Berard,  E.,  90. 


499. 

Agnel,  Abbe  A.  d',  387. 
Agos,  D'.  354. 
Aigon,  Abbe  H.,  389. 
Albanes,  Abbe,  400,  402. 
Allard,  Paul,  258,  331,  520. 
Alline  et  Loisel,  504. 
Annunzio,  Gabriele  d',  107,  121. 
Antony,  C.  M.,  364. 
Arbellot,  Abbe,  345. 
Arnaud,  F.,  230. 
Arnold,  Matthew,  264,  265. 
Assier,  A.,  234. 
Auber,  Abbe,  40,  316. 
Aubert,  Marcel,  39,  78,  84,  126,  461. 
Aucouturier,  H.,  266. 
Aufauvre,  Amedee,  231. 
Auger,  148. 
Avril,  Adolph  d',  194. 
Ayroles,  R.  P.,  521. 
Ayzac,  Felicie  d',  55. 

B 

Balzac,  Honore  de,  119,  247,  249,  312. 

Barbat,  L.,  114. 

Barbeau,  Albert,  236. 

Barraud,  P.  C.,  50,  224. 

Barres,  Maurice,  50,  389,  398,  435. 

Barres,  Chaillon  des,  430. 

Barren,  L.,  126,  247,  256,  350. 

Barsaux,  Chanoine,  224. 

Barthelemy,  E.  M.  de,  114,  241. 

Bavard,  Abbe,  426. 

Bayet,  Jean,  126. 

Bayle,  G.,  406. 

Bazin,  H.,  126,  188. 

Bazin,  J.,  410. 

Bazin,  Rene,  259,  302,  415,  419,  580. 


Berger,  E.,  133,  154. 

Bernard,  Abbe,  397. 

Berret,  P.,  261. 

Bertaud,  Emile,  479,  555. 

Berthele,  J.,  39,  404. 

Besnard,  A.,  50,  492. 

Besnard,  Ch.  H.,  288,  303,  499. 

Beugnot,  A.,  152. 

Biais,  290. 

Bilson,  John,  16,  30,  46,  47,  68,  276,  302, 

303,  461,  476,  479,  480,  481,  484,  493, 

494,  495,  496,  512,  554. 
Biran,  Maine  de,  285. 
Blanqueron,  Edmond,  241. 
Boinet,  Amedee,  39,  126,  281,  282. 
Boissonnot,  Chanoine,  247. 
Bondot,  L.,  428. 
Bonnard,  133. 
Bonnet,  Emile,  39,  384. 
Bontier,  231. 

Borderie,  A.  de  la,  557,  566,  573. 
Born,  Bertran  de,  345,  348,  349. 
Bosseboeuf,  Abbe,  40,  249,  254,  280,  285, 

293. 

Bossuet,  121,  163,  167,  247,  452,  453. 
Botrel,  Theodor,  201. 
Bouet,  G.,  39,  106,  484,  491,  551,  552. 
Bouilhet,  Louis,  78. 
Bouillart,  Jacques,  148. 
Bouillet,  Abbe  A.,  145,  541. 
Bourasse,  Abbe  J.  J.,  3i),  247,  315. 
Bourdaloue,  212. 
Bourget,  Paul,  339,  531. 
Bourillon,  F.  W.,  396. 
Bournon,  F.,  254. 
Bourrienne,  V.,  545. 
Boutaric,  E.,  154. 
Bouvier,  Abbe,  39,  40,  90. 
Bouxin,  Abbe,  40,  99. 


Beaurepaire,  Ch.  de,  38,  472,  484,  499,  507.    Bouzerand,  443. 
Bedier,  Joseph,  135,  245,  344,  435,  501.         Branche,  D.,  331. 


G0 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 


Brehier,  Louis,  188,  331. 
Briere,  Gaston,  39,  54,  188. 
Brin,  499. 
Brizeux,  A.,  570. 
Broche,  Lucien,  39,  99. 
Broglie,  Em.  de,  148. 
Brown,  Prof.  Baldwin,  481. 
Bruel,  F.  L.,  114. 
Brun,  Armand  de,  147. 
Brunetiere,  F.,  148. 


Clouard,  E.,  341. 

Coffinet,  J.  B.,  230. 

Cogny,  G.  de,  374. 

Colonne,  A.  de,  202. 

Congny,  Gaston,  213,  449. 

Cook,  507. 

Cook,  Sir  Theodore  Andreas,  213,  254, 499, 

519,  534. 
Corberon,  448. 
Corbolin,  428. 


Brutails,  J.  A.,  39,  47,  288,  291,  350,  351,    Cordier,  Leon  le,  472. 


355. 

Bulteau,  Abbe,  40,  170. 
Bunodiere,  H.  de  la,  509. 


Corroyer,  Ed.,  288,  294,  298,  359,  499. 

Coulanges,  Fustel  de,  42. 

Courajod,  Louis,  38,  145,  247,  266,  452. 


Bushnell,  A.  J.  de  H.,  55,  90,  170,  234,  242,    Courcel,  V.  C.  de,  230. 


247,  266,  302,  316,  536. 


Cagnat,  R.,  157. 
Cagni  et  Mocquereau,  280. 
Cahier  et  Martin,  P.  P.,  213,  219,  262. 
Calmette,  A.,  382,  410. 
Caneto,  Abbe,  384. 
Calvert,  381. 

Caumont,  Arcisse  de,  38,  226,  293,  410,      Cruppi,  151. 
472,  484,  491,  520,  531,  545,  546,  554.        Cucherat,  Abbe,  421. 


Courteault,  P.,  350. 

Cpurtepee,  Claude,  410,  423,  428. 

Cousin,  Victor,  133,  211. 

Coutan,  Dr.,  38,  494,  498,  512. 

Cram,  Ralph  Adams,  91. 

Crawford,  F.  Marion,  439. 

Cregut,  Abbe  R.,  341. 

Cros-Meyreveille,  375. 

Crosnier,  Abbe,  39,  55,  90,  170,  435,  449, 

Crozes,  H.,  390. 


Cerf,  Abbe,  40,  188. 

Chabeuf,  H.,  426,  452. 

Chaillan,  Abbe,  384. 

Chaillot,  A.,  406. 

Chalandon,  F.,  479,  555. 

Champeaux  et  Gauchery,  213,  341. 

Chantelon,  Dom,  399. 

Charmasse,  A.  de,  423. 

Chartraire,  E.,  90. 

Chassepied,  Ch.,  570. 

Chateaubriand,  70,  118,  410,  443,  562. 

Chaucer,  372,  551. 

Chaumont,  Chanoine  L.,  414. 

Cherest,  A.,  435,  445. 

Cherge,  De,  316. 

Cherval,  170. 

Chesterton,  Cecil,  579,  580. 

Chevalier,  Ed.,  250. 

Chevalier,  U.,  152,  452,  521. 

Chigougesnel,  545. 

Chomton,  Abbe,  40,  452. 

Choyer,  285. 

Clemat,  Chanoine  Joseph,  266. 

Clement,  Pierre,  222. 

Cleuziou,  H.  de,  556. 

Cloquet  (A.)  et  Cassier  (J.),  254. 


Cunissot-Carnot,  452. 


Dangibeaud,  Ch.,  287. 
Dante,  9,   133,   137,   141,  147,  148,  150, 
153,  156,  245,  253,  349,  357,  363,  441, 
462,  465,  474. 
Darcel,  Alfred,  480. 
Daudet,  Alphonse,  259,  396. 
Dechelette,  Joseph,  423. 
Dehaines,  Mgr.,  99,  226. 
Delaborde,  H.  F.,  245. 
Deliguieres,  210. 
Delisle,  Leopold,  378,  499,  520. 
Demaison,  Louis,  39,  114,  188,  199,  241. 
Demimuid,  114. 
Demogeon,  202. 
Denais,  J.,  302,  311. 
Denifle,  H.,  490,  521. 
Denis,  Abbe,  492. 
Depeyre,  G.,  266. 
Desdevises  du  Dezert,  331,  381. 
Desgardin,  Gustave,  224. 
Deshair,  Leon,  453. 
Deshoulieres,  F.,  266,  313. 
606 


INDEX 

Deville,  A.,  507.  Fenelon,  36,  288. 

Deville,  J.  A.,  492.  Fichot,  Ch.,  230. 

Devoncoux,  Abbe,  423.  Fillon,  Benj.,  280,  316,  565 

Didot,  A.  F.,  90.  Flandin,  V.,  435. 

Didron,  E.  A.,  39,  265,  513.  Fleury,  Gabriel,  39,  84,  99,  119,  170,  268 

Diehl,  Ch.,  479,  555.  428,  551. 

Dieudonne,  A.,  269.  Florival  (de)  et  Midoux,  99. 

Digonnet,  Felix,  405.  Focillon,  Henri,  257. 

Dion,  A.  de,  38,  114,  269,  461,  545,  551,  Fonteray,  H.  de,  423. 

552-  Forel,  Alexis,  288,  289,  316,  331,  343,  356, 
Douais,  Mgr.  C.,  364,  365,  375.  391. 

Dreux-Durandier,  316.  Formeville,  H.  de,  531. 

Drouet  (H.)  et  Calmette  (A.),  410.  Formige,  J.,  165,  408. 

Dubois,  P.,  224.  Forts,  Paul  des,  50. 

Dubouchet,  499.  Fossa,  F.  de,  144. 

Duchaisne,  Mgr.,  39,  395,  400,  401,  402,  Fossey,  Abbe  Jules,  40,  536. 

424,  436.  Foucaud,  L.  de,  350,  509. 

Duchemin,  512.  Fournier,  Paul,  369. 

Dufay,  C.  J.,  265.  Fowke,  J.  R.,  548. 

Duhamel,  L.,  405.  Fraipont,  G.,  331. 

Dumaine,  Abbe  L.  V.,  542.  France,  Anatole,  521. 

Durand,  E.,  335.  Francois,  S.,  126. 

Durand,  Georges,  39,  202,  203,  210.  Freeman,  E.  H.,  412,  490. 

Durandus,   Guillaume,   19,  69,   214,  267,  Froissart,  210,  327,  347,  349,  368,  408,  455. 

359,  387,  400,  401.  Fyot,  Eugene,  452. 

E  G 

Echivard,  A.,  268.  Galimard,  J.,  428. 

Edeline,  Abbe,  491.  Gaily,  435. 

Ehrle,  R.  P.,  405.  Gandillon,  A.,  213. 

Engelhard,  Ch.,  531.  Card,  R.  Martin  du,  480. 

Engerand,  Louis,  476,  545.  Gareau,  293. 

Enlart,  Camille,  16,  18,  29,  30,  31,  38.  47,  Garry,  Eugene,  219. 

49,  78,  81,  126,  201,  227,  228,  282,  287,  Gauchery,  P.,  213,  341. 

341,  342,  354,  435,  445,  447,  456,  461,  Gautier,  Leon,   133,   135,   162.  245,  356, 

464,  465,  476,  479,  484,  507,  509,  514,       500,  501,  520,  542. 

516,  555.  George,  J.,  291. 

Escoffier,  H.,  144.  Germain,  Alphonse,  384,  426,  452. 

Esnault,  G.,  269.  Germain,  A.,  384. 

Espinay,  D',  306,  312.  GerviJle,  C.  de,  546,  551. 

Gillet,  H.  L.,  356. 

,,  Girard,  Ch.,  343. 

Girardot,  A.  T.,  213,  280. 

Fabrege,  A.,  384.  Glanville,  L.  de,  492. 

Page,  Rene,  39,  345.  Gobillot,  Abbe  Ph.,  331. 

Faillon,  396.  Godart-Faultrier,  302,  312. 

Fallue,  A.,  507.  Gomart,  Ch.,  282. 

Fancon,  Maurice,  335.  Gonse,  Louis,  16,  39,  67,  247,  282,  332,  342, 
Farcy,  Louis  de,  39,  302,  303,  310.  345,  435,  452,  498,  515,  537. 

Farcy,  Paul  de,  545.  Goodyear,  Prof.  W.  H.,  0«,  276. 

Faure,  H.,  266.  Cosset,  Alphonse,  114,  188. 

Fedie,  L.,  375.  Gourmont,  llemy  de,  135. 
39                                                            607 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 


Gout,  Paul,  499,  502. 

Graillot,  H.,  356,  375. 

Grandtnaison,  Ch.  de,  38,  247,  280. 

Gratry,  P.,  79. 

Graves,  224. 

Green,  Mrs.  J.  R.,  269,  472. 

Grignon,  Louis,  114. 

Guepin,  Dom,  279. 

Gueranger,  Dom  Prosper,  280.  281,  321. 

Guerard,  R.  Louis,  405. 

Guerlin,  H.,  242,  249. 

Guigue,  C.,  256,  266. 

Guilhermy,  F.  de,  126,  565. 

Guirard,  Jean,  364,  365,  384,  405. 

Guizot,  36,  103,  296,  297,  536. 


H 

Hallays,  Andre,  84,  405. 

Halphen,  L.,  302. 

Hanoteau,  Gabriel,  400,  503,  521. 

Hardy  (G.)  et  Gandillon  (A.),  213. 

Hardy,  Abbe  V.,  535. 

Haskins,  Ch.  H.,  477. 

Haureau,  B.,  133. 

Havard,  H.,  39,  99,  144,  148,  149, 

250,  256,  310,  389,  423,  435,  452, 

509. 

Healy,  411. 
Heaton,  Clement,  458. 
Hefele,  257. 
Hello,  Ernest,  551. 
Hennezel,  H.  d',  256. 
Henry,  Abbe  V.  B.,  430. 
Histoire  Litter  air  e  de  la  France,  41,  55 

90,  99,   133,   150,   170,  258,   269, 

304,  343,  378,  391,  414,  430,  473, 

499,  531,  545. 
Hubidos,  H.,  391. 
Hucher,  E.,  268,  269. 
Huillier,  L.,  433. 
Humbert,  A.,  452. 
Hurault,  E.,  242. 
Hutton,  W.  H.,  162. 
Huysmans,  J.  K,  100,  128,  144,  170, 

284,  321,  415,  460. 
Hymans,  H.,  203,  242. 


Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  294,  431. 

Join-Lambert,  O.,  165. 

Joinville,  Jean  de,  41,  70,  111,  119,  120, 

138,  140,  152-162,  190,  206,  219,  244, 

245,  246,  312,  342,  399,  553. 
Jossier,  Abbe,  236,  237. 
Joubert,  J.,  290. 
Jouin,  H.,  302,  310. 
Jourdain  et  Duval,  202. 
Jourdanne,  Gaston,  375. 
Jubainville,  d'Arbois  de,  231,  461. 
Juiffrey,  Jules,  312,  426. 
Julleville,  Petit  de,  135,  245,  521. 
Jullian,  C.,  350. 

K 

Kersers,  A.  Buhot  de,  38,  213. 
Kleinclausz,  A.,  410,  426,  452. 
Koechlin,  Raymond,  39,  231,  361,  452. 


Jeannin,  President,  423,  425. 
Joanne,  39. 
Johnson,  Lionel,  165. 


Labande,  L.  H.,  39,  391,  392,  397,  403,  405. 

Lacordaire,  J.  B.  H.  D.,  128,  450,  462. 

La  Croix,  P.  de,  40,  325. 
219,  Lafenestre,  George,  484. 
507,  Laferriere  (J.)  et  Musset  (G.),  287. 

Lafond,  Jean,  507. 

Lahondes,  Jules  de,  39,  356,  360,  375,  381. 

Lahore,  Abbe,  236. 

La  Martilliere,  272. 

Lamartine,  Alphonse  de,  445. 

Lambin,  Emile,  39,  84,  99,  106,  123,  126, 

165,  188,  202,  445,  507,  517,  531. 
,  84,    Landrieux,  Mgr.,  188,  199. 
293,    Laran,  Jean,  370. 
494,    Largent,  R.  P.,  316. 

Lassus,  J.  B.  A.,  126,  266,  282,  460. 

Lasteyrie,  Charles  de,  345. 

Lasteyrie,  Comte  Robert  de,  16,  17,  30, 
38,  39,  49,  68,  114,  170,  228,  229,  250, 
287,  331,  356,  359,  391,  394,  476,  484. 

Lasteyrie,  Ferdinand  de,  55. 

Latouche,  Robert,  269. 
280,    Lauer,  Philippe,  153. 

Lauriere,  J.  de,  354. 

La  Tremblay,  Dom  Coutil  de  la,  279,  281. 

Lavalley,  G.,  491. 

Lavedan,  P.,  172,  345. 

La  Villemarque,  Hersant  de,  557. 

Lavisse,  Ernest,  76. 

Lebeuf,  Abbe,  445. 

Le  Beuf,  D.,  498. 
608 


INDEX 


Leblant,  E.,  397. 

Le  Braz,  Anatole,  556,  568 

Lecestre,  414. 

Lecocq,  282. 

Le  Conte,  R.,  554. 

Lecureur,  L.  Th.,  570. 

Ledeuil,  443. 

Ledru,  Abbe  A.,  40,  268. 

Lefevre,  L.  E.,  435. 

Lefevre-Pontalis,  Eugene,  16,  30,  31 
38,  45,  46,  47,  48,  49,  50,  78,  84,  99, 
106,  112,  121,  123,  126,  163,  170, 
237,  241,  268,  285,  291,  305,  323, 
340,  379,  421,  423,  443,  452,  479, 
482,  490,  491,  551,  553,  554,  557. 

Leger,  L.,  203. 

Legris,  Abbe  A.,  498. 

Leliene,  Abbe,  545. 

Lelong,  E.,  302. 

Lemire,  Ch.,  521. 

Lenoir,  A.,  148. 

Lentheric,  Ch.,  378,  389. 

Leo  XIII,  130,  385,  422,  521. 

Leport,  A.,  494. 

Leroux,  A.,  345. 

Leseur,  R,  315. 

Lestrade,  Abbe,  356. 

Leve,  A.,  548,  549. 

Levillain,  L.,  55. 

Lhuillier,  Victor,  50. 

Liard,  L.,  133. 

Lignum,  Lambin  de,  279,  565. 

Lincy,  Le  Roux  de,  419,  494,  557. 

Locquin,  J.,  266,  449. 

Loisel,  Abbe,  40,  504. 

Loriere,  Ed.  de,  314. 

Loriquet,  Ch.,  188. 

Lorme,  A.  de,  556. 

Lot,  F.,  480. 

Loth,  Abbe  Julien,  480,  507. 

Loti,  Pierre,  199,  200,  561. 

Lotte,  Joseph,  499,  536. 

Loutil,  Abbe,  129. 

Louviere,  J.  de,  397. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  100,  170. 

Luce,  Simeon,  490,  499,  521,  526,  557 

Luchaire,  A.,  162,  365. 

Luzel,  F.  M.,  557. 

Luzuy,  Abbe,  341. 

M 

Mabillon,  Dom,  149,  418,  461. 
Macon,  E.,  144. 


Magne,  Lucien,  293,  326. 

Maistre,  Joseph  de,  222,  411. 

Maitre,  Leon,  55,  257. 

Male,  Emile,  35,  39,  55,  85,  126,  144,  180, 
182,  183,  207,  256,  262,  335,  341,  342, 
343,  345,  347,  361,  424,  507,  541,  565, 
576,  578. 

Maleissye,  C.  de,  521. 

Malifaud,  G.,  293. 
,  37,    Mallay,  343. 
102,    Mandet,  343. 
211,    Manteyer,  Georges,  395,  397. 
325,    Mantz,  Paul,  341,  343. 
480,    Marchand  et  Bourasse,  247. 

Marche,  Lecoy  de  la,  55,  133.  152,  302. 

Marignan,  A.,  254,  356,  391. 

Maritain,  Jacques,  224. 

Marlavagne,  Bion  de,  374. 

Marsaux,  Chanoine,  242. 

Martin,  Alexis,  126. 

Martin,  H.,  250,  411,  490. 

Martin,  39,  356,  397. 

Maurin,  Abbe  E.  F.,  40,  403. 

Mauviniere,  H.  de  la,  290,  316. 

Meloizes,  Vicomte  des,  213. 

Mely,  F.  de,  145,  170. 

Merimee,  Prosper,  38,  285,  312,  321,  331, 
341,  343,  370,  373,  383,  395. 

Merlet,  Lucien,  170. 

Merlet,  Rene,  39,  170,  171. 

Meunier,  Paul,  449. 

Meyer,  Alfred,  345. 

Mezerai,  298,  519,  520. 

Michel,  Andre,  39,  228,  292,  345,  426. 
431,  452,  507,  509,  516,  541. 

Michel,  Robert  Andre,  405,  408. 

Michel-Danzac,  R.,  288. 

Migne,  414. 

Mignon,  A.,  133. 

Mistral,  Frederic,  356,  357,  384,  397,  400, 
466,  504,  581. 

Mocquereau,  Dom,  280. 

Moliere,  36,  370. 

Molinier,  A.,  152,  356,  362,  364. 

Monod,  Gabriel,  477,  520. 

Monstrelet,  489. 

Montaiglon,  A.  de,  67,  90,  563. 

Montaigne,  350,  451. 

Montalembert,  Ch.  de,  237,  256,  280,  411, 
414,  476. 

Montault,  Mgr.  Barbier  de,  40,  224,  316. 

Montegut,  423. 

Montfort,  J.,  565. 
609 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 


Moore,  Charles  Herbert,  16,  22,  29 

Morand,  145. 

Moreau-Nelaton,  E.,  106,  188. 

Morel-Payen,  119,  230. 

Mortet,  Victor,  39,  126,  378. 

Mortier,  364. 

Mottay,  Gautier  du,  556. 

Moulton,  E.,  445. 

MUller,  Abbe  Eugene,  40,  84,  123. 

Mlintz,  Eugene,  39,  312,  384,  387,  405. 

Mure,  De  la,  343. 

Musset,  Alfred  de,  16. 

Musset  (G.)  et  Laferriere  (J.),  287 

Musset,  Abbe  E.,  242. 

Mylne,  Rev.  R.  S.,  545. 

N 

Narbonne,  L.,  317,  378. 

Neale,  Rev.  John  Mason,  19,  214,  317, 

401,  414,  421,  451. 
Newman,  Cardinal,  123. 
Nicolai,  N.  de,  421. 
Nicquet,  Honorat,  293. 
Nodet,  V.,  265. 

Norgate,  Kate,  269,  302,  433,  472. 
Normand,  Ch.,  149. 
Noyes,  Alfred,  282. 


O 

Oliphant,  Mrs.,  521. 
Ordericus  Vitalis,  472,  492,  537. 
O'Reilly,  E.,  72.  194,  503,  506,  521,  523, 

525,  527,  528. 
O'Reilly,  P.  J.,  350. 
Orleans,   Charles  d',   67,   143,   315,  497, 

516,  517,  527,  529,  534,  565. 
Ouin-Lacroix,  Abbe,  517. 
Ozanam,  Frederic,  135,  259,  268,  508. 


Pacary,  P.,  536. 

Palustre,  Bernard,  293,  452. 

Palustre,   Leon,   39,   67,   302,   342,   405, 

515,  519,  541,  556,  563. 
Paris,  Gaston,  135,  152,  242,  245,  565. 
Pascal,  331,  332. 
Pasquier,  Etienne,  521. 
Pasteur,  Louis,  428. 
Pate,  L.,  423. 


Pater,  Walter,  170,  432,  578. 

Pavie,  Victor,  293. 

Pecout,  Abbe,  288. 

Peguy,  Ch.,  72,  73,  168,  179,   197,  536, 

545. 

Peigne-Delacour,  80. 
Pelissier,  L.  G.,  400. 
Penjon,  A.,  405,  414. 
Pepin,  J.,  492. 
Perier,  Arsene,  426. 
Perkins,  Rev.  T.,  202,  507. 
Perrault-Dabot,  A.,  410. 
Petit,  A.,  345. 
Petit,  Ernest,  410,  428,  452. 
Petit-Dutaillis,  247,  452. 
Peyre,  Roger,  361,  397. 
Peyron,  P.,  569. 
Philippe,  Andre,  417,  445,  461. 
Pigeon,  Abbe  E.  A.,  40,  551,  552. 
Pignot,  H.,  114. 
Pihan,  Abbe  L.,  50,  224. 
Pillion,  Louise,  188,  224,  445,  507. 
Pinier,  Chanoine,  305. 
Pissier,  Abbe,  436. 
Plancher,  Dom,  410. 
Plat,  Abbe,  272. 
Poli,  Vicomte  Oscar  de,  499. 
Pommeraye,  Dom,  509. 
Poquet,  Abbe,  106,  107. 
Poree,  Chanoine,  40,  472,  473,  496,  513, 

536. 
Poree,  Charles,  39,  90,  435,  445,  446,  452, 

460. 

Port,  Celestin,  280,  285,  302,  312. 
Porter,  Arthur  Kingsley,  16,  18,  28,  29, 

44,  46,  69,  183,  225,  228,  254,  277,  361, 

465,  476,  478,  479,  493,  517. 
Pettier,  Abbe,  361. 
Poulaine,  F.,  521. 
Poussin,  Abbe,  114. 
Pradel,  F.,  378. 

Prentout,  Henri,  267,  472,  477,  484,  545. 
Prioux,  S.,  121. 

Psichari,  Ernest,  168,  572,  574. 
Purchon,  W.  S.,  410. 

Q 

Quantin,  Max,  443,  448. 

Queyron,  126. 

Quicherat,  Jules,  38,  99,  148, 152,  232,  509, 

521. 
Quirielle,  R.  de,  266. 


610 


INDEX 


B 

Racine,  36,  242. 

Ramee,  D.,  78. 

Ranquet,  H.  du,  39,  331,  340. 

Rashdall,  H.,  133. 

Raynouard,  316. 

Reau,  L.,  203. 

Rebatu,  397. 

Reclus,  O.,  498. 

Regnier,  Louis,  16,  39,  47,  544. 

Remusat,  Ch.  de,  419,  473. 

Renan,  Ernest,  27,  258,  462,  572,  574. 

Renaud,  Edmond,  517. 

Requin,  Abbe,  266. 

Revoil,  38,  356,  397. 

Rey,  E.,  289. 


Saladin,  H.,  157. 
Salembier,  405. 
Sanoner,  G.,  142,  435. 
Santayana,  George,  169,  170. 
Sarcey,  Mme.  Yvonne,  102. 
Sarrazin,  A.,  521,  531. 
Saunier,  Ch.,  350. 
Sauvage,  Abbe,  480,  494. 
Sauvageot,  213. 
Saveron,  331. 
Savory,  Isabelle,  382. 
Schmidt,  Ch.  E.,  379. 
Seche,  Leon,  556. 
Segange,  L.  du  Broc  du,  266. 
Sepet,  Marius,  61,  447,  521. 
Serbat,  Louis,  39,  254,  291,  345,  378,  417. 
449,  531. 


Reymond,  Marcel,  261,  343. 

Rhein,  Andre,  39,  291,  315,  316,  554,  563.     Sertillanges,  R.  P.,  152. 

Sery,  Abbe,  449. 

Shakespeare,  54,  159,  162. 

Sharp,  291. 

Sicotiere,  De  la,  542. 


Riat,  G.,  126. 

Richard,  Alfred,  316. 

Rigault,  G.,  219,  234. 

Rivieres,  B.  Ed.,  370. 

Rivoira,  G.  T.,  28,  30,  414,  428,  452,  476,    Simpson,  F.  M.,  16,  517. 

496.  Smith,  Marion  Couthouy,  506. 

Robertson,  J.  C.,  433.  Soleil,  Felix,  565. 

Robida,  A.,  557.  Sommerard,  E.  du,  149. 

Robuchon,  J.,  316.  Sorel,  Albert,  472. 

Rochias,  Abbe  G.,  340.  Souvestre,  Emile,  560. 

Rodiere  et  Guyencourt,  202.  Spiers,  R.  Phene,  288,  291. 

Rodin,  Auguste,  114,  172,  189,  196,  215,    Stein,  Henri,  39,  66,  126,  145,  165,  331. 


250,  272,  278,  390,  472,  575. 
Roschach,  356. 
Rossi,  J.  B.  de,  397. 
Rostan,  L.,  400. 
Rostand,  Edmond,  391,  559. 
Rousse,  Joseph,  563. 
Roux,  J.  Ch.,  261,  288,  389,  391,  397. 
Royer,  L.,  399. 
Rule,  Martin,  373. 
Rupin,  Ernest,  39,  289,  345,  361. 
Ruprich-Robert,   V.,   38,   472,   476,   484, 

531,  542,  544. 
Ruskin,  John,  1,  3,  15,  208,  209,  556. 


Steyert,  Andre,  256. 
Suppligeon,  315. 


Taine,  Henri,  53,  108,  420 

Tarbe,  P.,  245. 

Tardieu,  Ambrose,  331. 

Taylor,  I.,  165. 

Taylor  et  Nodier,  202,  331,  370,  410,  413. 

472,  556. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  433. 
Thierry,  A.,  23,  435,  472,  480. 
Thiollier,  Noel  et  Felix,  39,  342,  344. 
Thomas,  Chanoine,  452. 
Thompson,  Francis,  197. 
Tillemont,  Le  Nain  de,  152. 
Tillet,  Jules,  445,  446. 
Topin,  Marius,  389. 


Sainsaulieu,  Max,  188. 

Sainte-Beuve,  Ch.  A.,  158,  451,  453. 

Saint-Germain,  S.  de,  50. 

Saint-Paul,  Anthyme,  16,  31,  32,  38,  39,    Tougard,  Abbe  A.,  492. 

47,  49,  53,  54,  67,  68,  84,  126,  188,  227,    Tournouer,  H.,  542. 

228,  276,  285,  288,  345,  354,  356,  481,    Tranchant,  Ch.,  321. 

490,  516,  539.  Trichaud,  J.  M.,  399. 

611 


HOW  FRANCE  BUILT  HER  CATHEDRALS 


Triger,  Robert,  39,  268. 

Troche,   145. 

Truchis,  Vicomte  Pierre  de,  423,  428. 

U 
Urseau,  Chanoine,  293,  302. 


Vacandard,  E.,  364,  419,  461. 

Vachon,  Marius,  90. 

Vallery-Radot,  Jean,  428,  545. 

Vallery-Radot,  Robert,  426,  428. 

Valois,  Noel,  133. 

Vasselot,  J.  M.  de,  39,  231,  361. 

Vasseur,  Ch.,  531. 

Vaudin-Bataille,  E.,  90. 

Verlaine,  Paul,  74. 

Verlaque,  405. 

Verneilh,  Felix  de,  38,  43,  55,  288. 

Viatte,  J.,  147. 

Vic  et  Vaissette,  356,  389. 

Vidal,  Pierre,  382. 

Villat,  Louis,  343. 

Ville,  Cirot  de  la,  350. 

Villefosse,  Heron  de,  190. 


Villehardouin,  161,  231,  246. 

Villetard,  Abbe,  428. 

Villon,  Francois,  222,  565. 

Vimont,  E.,  331. 

Viollet-le-Duc,  E.,  32,  35,  38,  50,  90,  100, 

123,  126,  128,  139,  162,  236,  291,  333, 

346,  352,  363,  378,  389,  440,  441,  445, 

446,  450,  460,  498,  534,  552. 
Virey,  Jean,  39,  414. 
Viriville,  Vallet  de,  222,  521. 
Vitet,  Victor,  78. 
Vitry,  Paul,  39,  54,  188,  231,  255,  265, 

279,  280,  342,  361,  423,  452,  507,  515, 

563,  565. 

Voge,  Wilhelm,  394. 
Vogue,  Melchior  de,  37. 
Voltaire,  36,  150,  338,  453,  530,  536. 
Voragine,  Jacques  de,  9,  85,  97,  220,  400. 

W 

Waern,  C.,  555. 

Wailly,  Natalis  de,  152,  245. 

Wallon,  H.,  152,  521. 

Westlake,  M.  H.  J.,  536. 

Wismes,  De,  269,  302. 

Woillez,  Eugene,  31,  38,  50,  224. 

Wordsworth,  54,  65. 


THE   END 


NOV   0  3 

s 

2  WEEK  LOA 


<> 


I    I 


I  -  If-  a  l»  ^f  * 

^    J-J    0    SE  <  ^.~4N,  2  =  ( 

^.J     /^<-_59   I    I         —  ^=    Hn»-».u,      K     \    . —  «j-     < 

<^  (  ^LCL  ^  ()  «  J^ 

S  V      /  V  -5  £  <r-"<_V  s  ^3  , 


A    001  235  635    8 


vvlOS-ANGFlfr 


/^ 


>— ^v     \    j     : 


r\  \  <~       ^f  V  V— ?- 

i    j   /  X        ^    V^       \   -^> 


A\\[t:M\EW/A 

-^v  ^    1 


i  <x 

— 


~   (     0     U :? 

£     ^^ ,    > 


